CNN Paula Zahn Show Transcript

January 6, 2004 Tuesday

HEADLINE: Is America Safer?; Princess Diana's Conspiracy Theory

GUESTS: Kevin Phillips, Teresa Heinz Kerry, John Kerry, Stephen Flynn, Jim Walsh, Jay Rockefeller, Anne-Marie O'Neill, Miles Corwin, Neil De Grasse Tyson

BYLINE: Jim Bittermann, Joe Klein, Brian Cabell, Paula Zahn, Sheila MacVicar, Jeffrey Toobin, Brian Cabell

HIGHLIGHT:
Are America's skies and borders safer than they were before the September 11 attack? As Britain opens the first inquest into the death of Princess Diana, a tabloid prints what it says was her own conspiracy theory. New color pictures from the red planet provide a guided tour of the Martian landscape.

BODY:
ZAHN: Welcome back

Now on to the race for the White House and more of our interview with Massachusetts Senator John Kerry and his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry. It is their first TV interview together since he formally announced his run. Mrs. Kerry has given $2,000 to her husband's campaign, the maximum allowable. But she says she would use more of her family wealth, if she had to.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TERESA HEINZ KERRY, JOHN KERRY'S WIFE: What I have said, and I said in '96, was if my own name, my family's name is in any way besmirched, seriously besmirched, that I, as an American citizen have the right, which I do, myself, to deal with it. I can go to court, I can have ads that I write by myself, I can defend myself. That's an American right, and no one can take that away from me.

ZAHN: So, given the fact that you have given the maximum you're allowed to under the law, are you bothered by the perception that some people have that in some way you're bankrolling your husband's campaign from the Heinz foundation or fortune?

HEINZ KERRY: You know, people-most people don't get very fair or correct information, partially because the sources of the information don't check, don't check true. And so, you know, there is nothing I can do about that, you know.

ZAHN: Does that bug you, Senator, that she's been tagged sort of with this piggybank label?

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yeah. Does it annoy me? Sure, it annoys me that they don't realize the serious, wonderful things that Teresa has done, and they focus on the stereotype. But we're not going to bother or worry about it. We don't spend 10 seconds on it.

ZAHN: Senator Kerry, how much of campaign advice do you get from your wife?

KERRY: Advice is the wrong word. My wife doesn't try to interfere. She's not looking for a job. She does not want to be a policy expert or adviser, but she's my wife. It's not so much advice, it's just a sharing of a journey together, and talking about the things that we see and that happen to us and that we share along the road.

ZAHN: So Teresa, are you enjoying life on the campaign trail?

HEINZ KERRY: Campaigning has been a surprise, this kind of campaigning. I've learned a lot from people, and I've learned a lot about myself. So that's always very nice, to keep learning, even at my age.

ZAHN: What was the surprise, the revelation of this kind of life that you find yourself leading?

HEINZ KERRY: Well, there are several. One is that people on the whole are much less cynical than I thought they would be, that they really want to find solutions, that they still have some of those great American values of optimism. And that I've actually enjoyed it, it's been wonderful. And lastly, that I have learned about certain things a lot myself that I-certain measures about how much I can tolerate and how much I-how shy I am or how-in fact, I felt pretty comfortable. And that's kind of been rewarding for me.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: Our thanks to Senator John Kerry and to Teresa Heinz Kerry for taking the time to talk with us during a very busy campaign.

Content and programming Copyright 2004 Cable News Network Transcribed under license by FDCH e-Media, Inc.