Convention Wrap

Dotty Lynch, Beth Lester, Clothilde Ewing, Cody Kucharczyk and Dan Furman of the CBS News Political Unit have the latest from the Democratic convention.

* Now We're Friends But...

* No Solidarity at the Convention

* Democrats Try to Make News

* Republicans Launch Convention Response

* Trail Bytes: Out on the Trail

* Worth Noting: the Convention Bounce

THK and Kennedy are Friends, right?: On Tuesday night, both Sen. Ted Kennedy and John Kerry's wife Teresa Heinz Kerry will speak at the Democratic National Convention. Undoubtedly, each will hail the other as a good person/good Democrat/good American. But that has not always been the case.

In a 1971 interview with the Washington Post, the year after her first husband, John Heinz, was elected to Congress, Teresa Heinz told the paper, "Ted Kennedy I don't trust, like I don't trust Nixon, although I think Nixon's done a helluva lot better than I thought he would." Although Heinz Kerry's words have appeared in print before, including a 2003 Boston Globe piece, Heinz Kerry's little known words were broadcast Monday night on the Drudge Report, right before prime time, sending many into a tailspin trying to check the source. A true, old-fashioned convention rumor moment.

In 2003, Heinz Kerry told the Globe that her words about Kennedy were sparked by her friendship with Kennedy's first wife, Joan. "I felt badly for [Joan]. And so I spoke my heart about that and not my knowledge of him back then. I regret I said that, because I was talking about [personal] feelings."

But even if it is old news, THK's words sparked intense media interest. The Boston Herald ran an extended piece, complete with new reaction and other Teresa tidbits from a little-read 1975 book "The Power Lovers: An Intimate Look at Politicians and Their Marriages." Teresa's take on her words now? "You are talking about statements that are more than 30 years old. A lot has changed since then," Marla Romash, a senior adviser to Heinz Kerry, told the Herald Monday. Vickie Kennedy, the current Mrs. Ted Kennedy, is hosting a lunch for Teresa Heinz Kerry at the convention.

Dissension at the Convention: On Monday, Andrew Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union, said that organized labor and the Democratic Party might be better off in the long run if Sen. John Kerry loses the election. This disclosure, during a Washington Post interview with David Broder, was a departure from the message of party unity that Democrats want to portray during their convention. Stern said the party and its longtime ally, the labor movement, are "in deep crisis."

The SEIU is the AFL-CIO's largest union and also its fastest growing. It represents health care and nursing home workers, state and local employees and janitors. Its 1.6 million members have a lot of influence in the AFL-CIO and Democratic politics.

Stern argued that Kerry's election would stifle reform within the party and the labor movement. However, Stern said he still believes that Kerry would make a better president than President Bush. He contends though that a Kerry presidency would have the effect of slowing the "evolution" of party dialogue.

The SEIU president's dissatisfaction with the AFL-CIO and the Democratic Party is not new, but his voiced frustration on the opening day of a carefully scripted convention may cause headaches for Kerry and his convention team. Stern, an early supporter of Howard Dean, is one of the most outspoken of the union leaders that have talked about breaking away from the AFL-CIO. Stern recently hinted that there may be a need to form some kind of new workers movement. AFL-CIO president John J. Sweeney responded that Stern's attitude "is not justified." He said, "I'm optimistic about the future of the Democratic Party."

Democrats Try to Make News: The Democrats used their daily convention briefing to announce that Senator Kerry will propose Tuesday to extend the life of the 9/11 commission. Kerry adviser and former Clinton administration State Department official Jamie Rubin described the proposals that Kerry would make later on Tuesday in Norfolk.

Other housekeeping chores included the campaign's belief that David Allston, one of Kerry's Vietnam crewmates, topped the list of successful speeches on Monday night. They also mentioned that President Clinton's speech was useful for exciting and unifying the Democratic party.

As for Tuesday night, Team Kerry stressed the speeches of Ron Reagan on stem cell research, Barack Obama's keynote and Teresa Heinz Kerry's remarks. The tribute to Sen. Ted Kennedy was not a part of the official talking points either in the morning briefing or in a later session with CBS News.

Republicans Launch Convention Response: President Bush is in Texas nursing a scraped knee and VP Cheney is in California talking to Marines and attending fundraisers. But in Boston, Republicans held their second press conference in response to the proceedings of the Democratic National Convention, which convened Monday night. According to RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie, "Last night, as predicted, the extreme makeover began."

Former U.S. Treasurer Rosario Martin reiterated the theme, saying, "We don't have Democrat facts and Republican facts, facts are facts." On this topic, Republican speakers took the opportunity to point out discrepancies between Democratic speeches Monday evening and data collected by the GOP. Gillespie noted the Bush administration has increased vet funding by 40 percent and Martin asserted, "overall homeland security funding has tripled since Bush took office."

While Republican speakers pointed out Kerry's supposed flip-flops on issues, namely his "seven different positions on his vote on the $87 billion" to continue funding for the war in Iraq, U.S. Senator Norm Coleman did have one compliment to give the Democrats. Coleman praised Bill Clinton's speech in that it highlighted that wisdom and strength are not opposing values. "He's right," said Coleman, "those should be President Bush's words." However, Coleman went on to assert that Mr. Bush had demonstrated both these characteristics.

On the timely topic of the 9/11 Commission Report, Gillespie reported that President Bush met with National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice on Monday to "weigh recommendations" and that Mr. Bush "is embracing many of these recommendations." CBS News Correspondent Mark Knoller reports that a Bush spokesman has called the Kerry proposal to extend the commission for 18 months "political gamesmanship."

Gillespie also spoke about Ron Reagan's decision to address the Democratic National Convention, saying that he is "not surprised." He also said that Nancy Reagan has an "open invitation" to attend the Republican National Convention, although he does not expect her to be present.

Trail Bytes: Kerry and Edwards Edge Closer to Boston

Kerry's on the road distractions, as reported by CBS News' Steve Chaggaris:

Kerry's self-imposed distraction on Sunday — his detour to Fenway Park to catch the Boston Red Sox-New York Yankees game — was just a precursor to a series of less positive distractions on Monday as he geared up for the first day of the Democratic National Convention.

Right off the bat Monday morning, Kerry was faced with a scary incident as a member of his motorcade crashed his motorcycle. Sgt. Eric Daddow of the Brevard County Sheriff's Office wiped out on Florida State Route 3 as Kerry was heading to his first event in Cape Canaveral from Cocoa Beach. Upon spotting the accident, Kerry ordered the motorcade turned around so he could check on the condition of the officer — in full view of cameras, of course. Turns out the officer suffered a broken shoulder and road rash from head to toe.

On to the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, where Kerry held a town-hall meeting with Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Florida, former Sen. John Glenn, D-Ohio, (both former astronauts), and Sen. Bob Graham, D-Florida. Following the event, the four toured the facility where the shuttle Discovery is being prepped for its next mission. The four dressed in light blue "clean room" attire to avoid spoiling the preparation process and the four wound up looking like a cross between Teletubbies and blue Power Rangers, leading some to wonder if this photo of Kerry could be the next Dukakis-in-the-tank shot.

Kerry was also confronted by a question about his wife's own Sunday night distraction: her telling a Pittsburgh newspaper reporter to "shove it."

"I think my wife speaks her mind appropriately," Kerry told reporters, offering no apology for her comment.

And in one final incident before Kerry could comfortably sit and watch the convention's opening night, it turns out that the campaign's 757 had to be grounded in Florida because of a faulty "auxiliary power unit," which is used to start the engines. He jetted off to Norfolk, Va., with a small group of staff and reporters in a chartered Gulfstream II while the rest of his staff and press corps wound up on a substitute MD-80, arriving minutes before a couple of network correspondents had to be live on their 6:30 p.m. newscasts.

Eventually, Kerry wound up spending the night in his Norfolk hotel room, working on his convention speech, watching the first night's festivities and, according to an adviser, "relaxing quietly, talking to his family."

On the Trail with John Edwards, here is CBS News' Bonney Kapp:

It was a low profile day in Raleigh for Senator Edwards on Monday. As of Sunday night, his schedule had two town hall meetings, but the second was postponed until later this year. Although there was no official statement, staffers indicated the Senator had to rest his voice. "It's a very big speech," one aide said of his primetime convention speech Wednesday.

Edwards sounded fine — save for a few coughs — at his town hall at the North Carolina Biotechnology Center in Durham. The topic was "Innovation in Healthcare," and the Senator spoke about the healthcare "crisis," stem cell research, and energy independence, among other topics.

Edwards did interviews with various local television reporters via satellite before presumably retreating to his Raleigh home to work on his speech. Although the networks were told to expect speech preparation footage, we were ultimately told that only still photographers would be allowed to visit the home. (Look for photos of Edwards jotting notes on a typewritten copy of his speech in an issue of Time magazine soon).

It wasn't until the press corps grumbled that the campaign conceded and allowed a newspaper journalist to attend the photo shoot — as long as he didn't ask any questions. The pool report of the session sent to the rest of the press corps did shed some light on the former trial lawyer's lifestyle, however. Edwards' colonial-style home in Raleigh's Country Club Hills has "white and green shutters, set atop a gentle hill amid a grove of trees. A nice-sized place but not, you know, James-Bond-villain huge."

When one of the photographers commented it "must be weird" to get pictured in his backyard, Edwards retorted, "I'm getting used to weird." Those who have covered campaigns assure me it will only get weirder.

There will be a send-off Tuesday for Edwards before he heads to Boston, where campaign officials say he'll be "invisible" to the press until his speech Wednesday night.

Worth Noting: CBSNews.com's David Kuhn on the Bounce:

The Kerry camp does not expect the post-convention bounce Bill Clinton enjoyed in 1992. Following Mr. Clinton's 1992 acceptance speech in New York City, he received the largest post-convention lift in the polls since tracking began a half century before.

Thirty-three million television viewers tuned in to see the then-unknown Arkansas governor. Mr. Clinton came into the convention trailing President George H.W. Bush and independent candidate Ross Perot. He left at the top.

According to the CBS News/New York Times poll following the 1992 nomination speech, Mr. Clinton achieved a 24 percentage point bounce. (1988 Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis earned a mere 9 points.)

The lift topped even Adlai E. Stevenson's 21-point bounce of 1952, the last time a convention literally decided a candidate. It was a remarkable success for Mr. Clinton, and the party the green governor was about to lead.

Passing through security on his way into the Fleet Center, Kerry's chief strategist Tad Devine said, "I don't expect anything resembling the bounce of 1992."

Devine referenced Ross Perot, who left the race mid-convention, and the less saturated media market, adding that "half that" would suffice, would be a success.

Quote of the Day: "We talked to our 6-year-old ... We told her she'd miss a couple days of camp and swimming. She said, 'Daddy, I won't hurt your feelings will I if I decide not to go?' I thought to myself, my 6-year-old was showing fine judgment to go swimming instead of listening to a bunch of grownups talking for hours," Barack Obama on his children's decision to skip the Democratic Convention (Chicago Tribune).