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Morning News

Election 2000: Cheney Family Leaves for Austin

Aired July 25, 2000 - 11:04 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: The Bush/Cheney ticket goes public today. George W. Bush and apparent running mate Dick Cheney will attend a rally this afternoon in Austin, Texas.

Our Jonathan Karl has been following the story from Austin.

Jonathan, good morning, once again.

JONATHAN KARL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

That's right, that first rally of the Bush/Cheney ticket will happen right here at University of Texas, Austin campus, right behind me in the Irwin arena. And right after that, tomorrow, we have the first campaign trip of the Bush/Cheney ticket. The campaign will be going to Wyoming. That's the home state of Dick Cheney, that's the state that he represented in Congress for six terms.

Now in the meantime, what George W. Bush has been doing is he's been making phone calls, phone calls to those who were the also-rans, those he considered for a spot on his ticket but ultimately did not get the job. He's been telling those folks, if they weren't watching CNN this morning,that he has in fact gone ahead and chosen Dick Cheney as his running mate.

Some of the calls we have been able to confirm that Bush has made this morning: one went out to Chuck Hagel, senator of Nebraska; also, senators from Tennessee, Bill Frist and Fred Thompson got calls; Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge; Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating; and also getting a call was John McCain, of course, the vanquished rival in the Republican primaries.

Now Fred Thompson's office telling CNN that what he told Bush when he got the phone call was that Cheney, quote, "is the right man at the right time," and indeed several of these people who had been under consideration coming out, publicly saying that they are very strongly supportive of the Bush/Cheney ticket. Now the goal for the Republican party, to quickly unite, show a united front in support of this ticket -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Jonathan, why hold this rally at University of Texas? why did the Longhorns get that honor?

KARL: Well, it has something to do with the fact that the governor's mansion is just about a mile or so away from this very spot, or even less than a mile. They did not want to have this at the governor's mansion. As you know, they've been trying to keep some secrecy surrounding this pick. Obviously the nature of the pick, who actually Bush chose, has been one of the most poorly kept secrets in a long time.

We've known for some time that Cheney was the leading contender and, of course, confirmed this morning, when the call went out this morning. But they were trying to keep the location a secret, they didn't want to create a big scene. So that's where it's going to be, right here in George W. Bush's backyard, the University of Texas.

KAGAN: All right, you stay put. We'll check in with you at UT. Thank you, Jonathan Karl -- Bill.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Daryn, thank you.

Want to move now to Austin, Texas, for today's rally, that's where it will take place.

But Charles Zewe, back in Dallas, outside the home of Dick Cheney, where Dick Cheney left with his family just a short time ago.

Charles, hello, again, there.

CHARLES ZEWE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, again, from Dallas, Bill.

Dick Cheney, wife Lynn, and daughter Liz, went wheels up, as they say, from Dallas Love Field aboard a private jet just within the last 10 minutes, headed down to Austin. It's about a 30, 35, sometimes 40- minute flight. It's a quick flight, nonetheless, to Bergstrom air field there in Austin where he will doubtless go to the governor's mansion and meet with Governor Bush who, at 6:22 Central time this morning, tapped him as his running mate.

Cheney and wife and daughter all loaded their own bags, this morning, into the family car, got in, saying little if anything to the gathered reporters. He and his family waved but said nothing at all about his selection today as the GOP vice presidential nominee apparent. He drove off, headed toward Love Field, as I said, where just a short time ago he got aboard a private jet for that flight down to Austin.

Now, earlier in the day, daughter Liz came outside of the family mansion, here in the Highland Park area of Dallas. She came out, camera in hand, just to take pictures of the assembled reporters and photographers who have gathered now for two days, out in front of the Cheney home, where they've lived for five years.

He is the chairman of the Halliburton Corporation. She just wanted to take a look. She said her father was a wonderful person and Governor George W. Bush was a wonderful person. She wouldn't say whether she would play any role in the campaign. She made her rounds, took a few pictures, and went back inside. A crush of reporters and photographers building even as she walked back into the mansion. So the Cheneys are on their way to Austin, now. Will be they coming back here? we don't know. There's a campaign swing in the works, first to Wyoming and then on to the convention in Philadelphia, as Jonathan Karl just reported.

Dick Cheney, stepping away now, at least for the duration of the campaign, as chairman of the Halliburton Corporation, whether he returns here, will be up to voters.

Charles Zewe, CNN, live, Dallas.

HEMMER: Good deal, Charles, again, good to see you out of the street there as well.

Charles Zewe, live in Dallas -- Daryn.

KAGAN: The highlight of Cheney's tenure as defense secretary was the allies' resounding victory in the Persian Gulf War.

We now go to CNN military affairs correspondent Jamie McIntyre for reaction from the Pentagon.

Jamie, one of their own going for vice president?

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN MILITARY AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, a lot of people around here were saying it sounds like the old days with Bush and Cheney back in the news. Of course, Dick Cheney was the secretary of defense during the 1991 Persian Gulf War. He played a pretty pivotal role, even though he had no military experience before taking the job as the Pentagon's top man.

He was involved intimately in reviewing the battle plans for the invasion of Iraq. And in fact, he rejected the very first plan as not robust enough and sent General Norman Schwarzkopf, the Desert Storm commander, back to draw up a plan for a bigger invasion to make sure that American troops were not trapped by Iraqi forces. Of course, it turned out forces put up little resistance, Cheney had feared there that there would be high casualties. He was proven wrong on that. He was thankful for it.

Of course, while he's remembered for the Persian Gulf War, one of his biggest contributions as defense secretary was downsizing the Pentagon and cutting the military budget. When he got in -- took over in 1989, his first chore was to cut $10 billion out of the Pentagon's budget and start reducing the size of the ships in the Navy, the airplanes in the Air Force. He cut the number of Army divisions as they tried to resize the Pentagon in the post-cold war era.

And that was, for Cheney, that was a switch, because during his time in Congress he had voted for the big massive Reagan era buildup. So in his four years at the Pentagon, he cut the size of the military by about 25 percent. And, of course, he played that key role in the Persian Gulf War -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Jamie, how was a man who avoided military service himself, with a series of deferments, how was he able to gain respect in the Pentagon as secretary of defense?

MCINTYRE: Well, he immediately took a take-charge attitude when he got to the Pentagon. Just a couple of days after he arrived, he dressed down the Air Force chief of staff, General Larry Welch for appearing to negotiate with Congress about the deployment of nuclear missiles. Cheney made a very public statement saying that Welch didn't speak for the Pentagon, in exercising that civilian control of the military that's a hallmark of the of U.S. government.

And he did it again, the next year, just in the buildup to the Persian Gulf War when he fired the Air Force chief, clearly showing the Pentagon brass who was in charge, and that he wouldn't -- while he would take the military's advice, he was the one clearly calling the shots.

KAGAN: Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon, thank you for that insight, appreciate it.

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