tragedy in the sky at an air show in poland today. to pilots were killed when their plane went down. spectators were watching the jet in an acrobatic display when the scene turned to horror. the plane crashed into trees. both pilots inside the plane died. three lucky fishermen are back on dry land tonight after being stranded at sea for more than a week. the friends left the texas coast for an overnight fishing trip. that evening their boat started to take on water and capsized. the men spent the next eight days on the hull of the 23 foot vessel surviving on crackers, chewing gum and whatever water they could suck out of the boat's fresh water tank. they say they also relied on prayer and each other. >> we're going to have to live. we have too much to live for. our life is really not over with yet. this is just a calling card to wake us up, not a calling card to take us out.

>> how about that. the coast guard called off the massive search effort friday. the very next day a fishermen spotted the missing men 180 miles from the coast. they say it took some effort to get their land legs back. otherwise they're in pretty good shape. california police spent the weekend searching the backyard of the man charged with kidnapping 11-year-old dugard 18 years ago. police and fbi combed through sheds and tents. investigators think he might be linked to other crimes including the murders of several prostitutes. their bodies were dumped in a field where the man once worked. meanwhile a family friend reports that dugard and her two children are making a slow, painful adjustment to normal life. still ahead on news 4 at 11:00, the last writings of ted kennedy. his memoir will now be released even sooner than expected. also, get ready for a wooldown. meteort ogolkchisl bucel

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flowe and heartfelt condolences flanked senator ted kennedy's grave today as americans lined up at arlington national cemetery to pay their respects. nbc 4's michael flynn was there. >> reporter: within just hours of his burial at arlington national cemetery, the public had its first chance to visit the grave site of senator ted

kennedy. people sometimes waited more than half an hour in the heat to see the simple marker and white cross. many took photos as a lasting remembrance of the man they admired. >> i was proud to be from massachuset massachusetts. >> reporter: she felt a close connection to ted kennedy and appreciated his commitment to public service. >> i think i have a lot -- for the ideas he's instilled in the kids. >> reporter: mark thompson brought his kids to see ted kennedy's grave and the final resting places of his brothers, president john f. kennedy and senator robert f. kennedy, all within just a few hundred feet of each other. >> his life made a difference in other lives. that's what really counts when you show love and concern for your fellow man. >> there's no doubt -- >> reporter: michelle also thought it was important her kids be here, too, and pay their respects to the man known as the

lion of the senate. >> trying to teach them that as he said, y know, you have to go forward. and that they're the generation that has to do it. they have to understand that lesson. >> reporter: at arlington national cemetery, michael flynn, news 4. >> meanwhile, ted kennedy's memoir is being rushed to bookstores now. it's called "true compass" and will be out september 14th. that book was originally slated for release in 2010. then it was moved up to october. then again to next month. the lead senator agreed to do the book before his cancer diagnosis. the initial printing is a million and a half copies. that is considered very large in publishi circles. the "today" show has a new correspondent with white house experience. jenna bush hager will be a reporter on the "today" show. she'll be based here in d.c. and report on various issues, especially education. she works as a teacher in baltimore now and has written two books.

bush-hager will split her time between her teaching job and her new job on air. you better look out, chuck bell. if she decides she wants to do the weather, you mht be out of work. >> she has a lot more pull in this town than i do. a lot of folks very unhappy with the heat and humidity yesterday. all too typical of august. nonetheless, we've gotten rid of the humidity, and the heat is on its way out as well as september draws closer. outside right now, a fairly nice evening on the outside. hopefully you've enjoyed your weekend wefsh. time to go back to work and a lot of kids heading back to school tomorrow. it's going to be cool at the bus stops. our high today, 85 degree. average for this time of year. after a 72 degree start. right now down to 75. that north wind has driven the humidity away. yesterday our dewpoints were in the low 70s. now they're in the low 50s. and that is the comfy stuff. 66 right now in frederick, maryland. 66 in hagerstown. 65 in martensburg.

not much going on around the metropolitan area. i find you down there in st. mary's coun. one or two lonely showers. a couple of lonely sprinkles down there. that is all we could find on the radar for you this evening. generally speaking it's going to be a dry week coming. still one or two chances for some light sprinkles in the far southern parts of maryland, northern neck, again during the day tomorrow. here in the washington area i think we'll stay dry. northern maryland, west virginia, pennsylvania all in the dry side tomorrow. temperatures in the 40s and 50s. freeze warnings are out in the northern parts of minnesota tonight as the dewpoint changes continue to show. feels a lot more like september already. september just two days away. keeping our eye down here in the tropics once again. the tropical season is gets close to its peak. the hurricane center is keeping an eye on this. it may take on the name erika.

it is showing signs of developing. keep your ear out. for us, generally fair skies overnight tonight. one or two lonely sprinkles in southern maryland and the northern neck. that'll persist through the tay tomorrow as the weather front sort of hangs up along tide water regions of virginia. for us a nice day and some wonderfully cool mornings are on the way as you get to the middle of the week. when you wake up tomorrow morning to go out to the bus stops, mid 50s in the western suburbs. low 60s intown. upper 60s along the chesapeake bay. pickinup a few more clouds later in the day. outside chance of a shower. check out those high temperatures. only in the mid-70s around town tomorrow. ten degrees cooler than average for the end of august. tomorrow by the evening time, a couple more clouds coming in, outside chance at a shower as well. seven-day forecast looks pretty

good as we go through the next couple of days as we get back to work and school. highs only in the mid-70s tomorrow. mid to upper 70s. tuesday, wednesday and thursday haven't been below 60 in washington in three months. i think tuesday morning or wednesday morning going to be our best chance for it. generally dry weather most of the week long. there's the early lean on labor day weekend. >> that's the unofficial. >> what most people consider the end of summer. >> you don't wear white pants anymore. >> i thought those went out in the '80s. jay cutler returns to denver for a happy homecoming. happy for cutler. maybe not too much for the bronco broncos. find out how s.

chuck bell is meteorologist by day. redskins -- >> the redskins cut five players on defense michael grant, alfred fincher. on offense -- turning to an interesting storyline. when rumors began circulating that denver's first year head coach josh mcdaniel's was trying to trade for then patriopatriot quarterback, cutler -- cutler said, quote, probably poorly would be my first guess. and that's exactly what happened. check out the fans. dressing up as babies. then this t-shirt. cry baby cutler. there is the man they're talking

about. we start in the second quarter. game tied at 3. denver punting the ball away. chicago's devon heser, always a threat, fields it at the 42 yaryard line. heser hits the holes. he's a speedy fellow. returns it 54 yards all the way down to the 40 yard line. bears in business. two plays later cutler hands it off to matt forte. up and over for the touchdown. bears take a 10-3 lead. they weren't done yet. just before halftime bears threatening. listen to the boos for cutler. >> he's cool under pressure. rolls right and threads the needle to matt forte for a six-yard score. cutler 15 of 21 for 144 yards passing. the bears beat the broncos 27-17. you know cutler is feeling good tonight. on a day when fairfax native steve moreno needed to play his best golf he played his worst. he started the afternoon tied for the lead. a round away from winning his

first pga tour event. instead he shot a six over at the barclays. a disappointing end to a weekend that began with so much promise. feeling the pressure on 14. putting for birdie. oh, no. it licks out. mor reno never got a break. he triple bogeyed the next hole. tiger woods made a value yent charge on 18 with a challenge to take a share of the lead. he just misses the putt. tiger's like, are you me? me? do you know who hit that ball? he finished in a four-way tie for second. steve stricker on 18 with a share of the lead. he needed this par putt to go. missed it. stricker bogeys the hole opening the door for that men. slocum wins the barclays at nine under par. infielder ronny bellyard to the dodgers for a pitcher and

player to be named later. bellyard who spent the last three seasons in d.c. goes from worst to first. dodgers own the best record in the national league. the nats lost their 85th game of the season in st. louis. garrett mock facing khalil greene. mock gets him swinging. mock struck out five in six innings of work. top six. cards up 1-0. cy young candidate adam wainwright going for his 16th win. cruising along here. gets ryan zimmerman looking for the second out of the inning. but wainwright walks the next two batters. here's dukes at the plate with two on and two out. dukes delivers. waits on the off speed pitch. base knock to left center. adam dunn scores to tie the game at 1. duke's 52nd rbi of the season. nats thinking they're going to get it going. home half of the sixth. still tied at 1. mock pitching. albert pujols with one on. pujols singled back up the middle. colby rasmus scores.

wainwright wins his 16th game. williamsport, pennsylvania, for the little league world series. boys from chula vista, california, taking on chinese taipei. rips one to right. that scores one. california takes a 4-3 lead. we go to top of the sixth. drama. california up. one out. garcia gets it. a strikeout to end it. you got to love that. a lot of fun. kids jumping from joy. california wins 6-3 and captures the state's sixth little league world series title. in the wnba mystics hosting minnesota today trying to keep up in the eastern conference playoff ration. we start in the first half. mystics wearing pink in support of breast cancer awareness. allay na beard scores two of her 13 points. beard left the game late with a sprained ankle. still in the first lauhalf. puts it up and in.

langhorn -- mystics win 81-75. redskins wrap up the preseason thursday night in jacksonville. starters probably won't play. >> then it's football. >> the opener on the road in new york. that's when it really matters, chuck. >> more importantly, college football starts next saturday. >> there you go. after the break, i say tomato, you say tomato. these folks just say food fightc nevada kicic

here we go. time now for our weekly foray into the odd, unusual or just plain strange. hakem, buckle up.

we go to the state famous for sin city. apparently it's famous for enormous food fights as well. this is reno, nevada's first annual tomato fight, chuck bell. participants each paid a fee for privilege of pelting each other with 25 tons of ripe tomatoes. some through tomatoes. some danced in the tomatoes. but it looks like everybody there in reno had a pretty darn good time. proceeds from that are going to be donated to the american cancer society. so it's a good cause. >> biggest mess in the biggest little city in america. >> there you go. "meet the press" is up next. it's a special "meet the press" dedicated ed ke kennedy. we w

i'm ann curry. from all of us here at nbc news, thanks for joining us. from n ns in washington this is "meet the press" with daefd gregory. this sunday a special edition. remembering senator edward m. kennedy who was laid to rest yesterday evening along side his brothers at arlington national cemetery.

with us to honor his remarkable life in career and public office maria shriver, first lady of california and daughter of his sister unince shriver, and kathleen kennedy townsend, the he wouldest child of his brother, robert f. kennedy. two of his closest colleagues in the senate, fellow senator from massachusetts hn kerry and chris dodd of connecticut. plus, democratic strategist bob shurum long-time political advisor to the senator who helped write his famous speech of the 1980 democratic national convention. >> the work goes on. the cause endures. the hope still lives. and the dream shall never die. >> and presidential historian doris kearns goodwin who authored "the fitzgerds and the kennedys." caions paid for by nbc-universal television

. ♪ ♪ friday evening after the moving memorial service in boston, i sat down at the kennedy library with his niece maria shriver, and asked her what the tremendous public outpouring meant to her and her family. >> i think that it's extraordinary. i think driving from hyannis port to boston it was so moving to see people standing along the freeway gathered on bridges, entire families, many in tears. boys with their hands over their hearts saluting. it was a great piece of american history that you were able to drive by, and this was a week day in the middle of the day, so people obviously had to miss

work, take vacation, park their cars and wait to just watch a hearse go by, and i thought it was so generous of the people and so moving. it's something i think teddy would have been so thrilled bow and humbled by. >> it's interesting for the past several days we hear so much about the career, about the issues, about the passion. yet, at this memorial service you heard about the man, and you understood that public service for him was about other people, about serving people. >> well, teddy was, i think, known to the people who knew m him -- his heart was extraordinary. he was the most passionate man, and i think he worked that way because he himself knew pain, knew struggle, abandonment. he knew all of the things that

pains a human being, and so when he saw other human beings in pain or where their character was questioned or they had lost, he was always the first person to reach out, and nobody does that who hasn't felt that way themselves, and i think that was something that people often overlooked about him, didn't understand about him, but this was a man who had thought a lot, struggled a lot, who had been through a lot, and he understood when other people also went through a lot, and i think you have that outpouring because people, regular people, understood that about him. they saw through all of the labels. they saw through, you know, what people wrote. they saw this was a man who understood family, who understood struggle, who understood triumph and who understand, you know, weaknesses. we all have that.

i think rarely do you see it. >> what has it been like as you watch all of this coverage and they're watching the family, and wondering how everybody is. the president said this wasn't unexpected, but it was dreaded. how has everybody been doing? >> i think people have often said, well, it wasn't a surprise. well, i think death is always a surprise. i've just gone through two in two weeks, and it's always a surprise, and it's always final, and it's always difficult, and i think people grieve in their own way and their own time. i think teddy was one of those larger than life figures in our family. he was really the center of our family, and he was one of those people that you never expected to die. you just expected him to beat the odds. you expected him to -- i think anybody who has been through cancer knows the ups and downs.

one day it's bad. one day it's good. you, i think, always hope that this person is going to beat the odds. >> you he has been called the rock of the family, and this referred to your mother, who you lost just in the past few weeks. another rock of the family. it's a lot of loss in one time. >> it's a lot of loss. it's a lot of pain, but both of them lived extraordinary lives, and they lived lives that had purpose, meaning, that had a mission. i remember someone once said if you don't have a idea, what do you have? where is your idea? what are you doing? i think both of these people had great ideas, and they fought their whole lives to make them reality, and i think one of the things that i think is so great about mummy, aunt kennedy is the durationf their sight. i think we live in a world today that's about instant success,

instant gratification. you fight for something. you expect to get it in a week. both mummy and teddy fought their entire lives, their entire lives. 40 years, 50 years to give people with intellectual disain'ts the same rights as everybody else. it took her lifetime to achieve that. teddy fought his entire life for health care and all of the legislation you heard talked abo about. whether it's five years or ten years, and many people willed him off. none of the things that he accomplished would have been accomplished. i think both of them are incredible test amounts to how long this takes, how hard one has to accomplish something, and i think we've lost sight of that in this country and anything whether it's journalism, politics. people expect you to get elected president and solve all the problems immediately. you see how long they had to

stay in there and keep hammering away and hammering away, and i think that that gives us hope for the people that are disillusioned that they didn't get something done right away. if you look at people like that and say, wow, they accomplished a lot, but it took a long time. >> you talk about health care. you watched what was happening in washington. did it feel like he was really on the verge of seeing his dream realized? >> i think he thought with the election of boem obama this country was on the virj of seeing so many of his dreams realized, and i think that will be realized. i think a lot has been written about how much his voice has been missed, and i think it has. i think perhaps just his passing will invigorate people to get it done, and he gave his life to that, but he gave his life to so many things. he saw so much of what he fought for accomplished. >> there's an image from the

convention last year. he was wiping tears away as he spoke about what he kashd about, health care, and other events, and, fortunately, as an advocate for barack obama. it was kind of a good-bye and a long good-bye, but he had that next year. what was that final year like? >> well, i think it was for me watching this final year was beautiful because i think there have been a lot of things written about teddy over the years, and it hasn't all been complimentary, and i think for someone to have that kind of love come at you is a very powerful thing. i think it's more than many people ever experience in their lifetime. i think it was a blessing for teddy that he was able to see that his work was appreciated, that his life had been valued, that people understood.

he accepted the love. it's so hard to accept love, and he let it come at him, and i think that was so beautiful that he got to live and see how people appreciated him and that people came up to him and thanked him, and he could feel that kind of gratitude. >> he got to experience something his brothers didn't, which is to experience how people felt about him. >> i think very few people -- i think that's another lesson in all of this. i'm a big believer that people rarely know how people feel about them in their lives. we run around and we forget to stop and tell people how important they are and how loved they are,nd how grateful we are, and i think teddy got to see that, and right after my mom died and he wasn't able to come to the funeral, i went over to sehim two weeks ago, and i just said to him, i want to thank you for being the most extraordinary brother to my mother. every health incent he was there for my brother, for

myself. he was in every emergency room all across this country, every icu room. he came in and cheered her up. i said i have never seen such an extraordinary brother, and i said i have never seen such an extraordinary uncle. i want to thank you for everything you have done for me, everything you did for my mother and my family, and i love you, and i'm so grateful that i had that moment, and i learned that from him, and from people leaving that there's never a moment like the moment. teddy understood that. >> he was walking caroline down the aisle, and after the wedding jackie wrote him this note that included are you the careful youngest brother befell a hero, sec parents, lost children, desolate lives. you are a hero. everyone is going to make it because you are always there,

your love. >> everybody did make it, and we've all made it, and we've all been inspired by his love. i think his example, his inspiration. i think if you really step back by his whole life, it wasn't perfe perfect, but it was his life, and he was a great patriot. he was a great advocate of public service. he was a great family rock for many families, and he was here we would all feel -- he was really adamant that we would all feel his presence in our lives, and we did. i think, you know, that is a life well lived. it's the life of -- there was a life of a purpose. he lived one. a life of purpose, passion, and meaning. >> he was able to take stock of his life in this final year in a way that he wanted to do it. what do you think that was like for him? >> well, you know, i think you never know.

i think it becomes, machining other things, it comes from generations that didn't talk much about feelings, but i think he was an intro spektive man, and i think he looked at his life and i think he accepted his life as his own. he accepted his triumph and weaknesses, and i think that that's a great sign of strength in any human being that they can accept their whole life. he lived his own life, and he lived a life his parents would have been proud of. i think he worked really hard to make his parents, particularly his mother, proud of him. he worked very hard to make his sisters proud of him. this was a man who really took the concept of family to a whole other level. my children had relationships

with him. i don't know any other great uncle that operates like that. >> you told one of his biodwrafrs that it was so important for him to know him because it was about the family, it was about the history, it was about what it meant to be irish. dmroo oh, you know, he was -- he really wanted all of us to know about our irish heritage, our public service heritage, and he also wanted us to have fun, and he never got down on you when you made a mistake. he was always encouraging. i think that's because of the life he lived. you know, i think he is the youngest of nine kids. he had formidable figures to live up to, and he understood how that weigh on a human being, and i think that's what brought out his empathy and compassion, and i think as you go through the city, i met a woman up there

tonight who said that her child had been murdered and lost and teddy reached o to her and helped her with legislation and changed her life and gave her purpose and she was wearing a button of her daughter, and i meet people, you know, every day that come up to me about teddy, mummy, teddy, jack. i say do you know that people turn out not to people who had their goals for making money or who were in search of fame, but people turn out for people who want to make the world a better. they never went out to make money. they never went out to get on a reality show and become famous or get on tv. they went out to change the world. people get that. >> there are so many americans who have no connection to your family and, yet, they feel something visceral with the loss of your mother and now the loss of teddy kennedy that it really is the end of such a distinct

era for the kennedys. >> well, i think vice president biden addressed that by saying, you know, i don't think this is the end of the kennedys, but i think that will be written, that it's the end of an era, that the kennedys are finished, and i think really the goal for each human being, whether your name is kennedy, shriver, gregory, or whatever, it's to live your life, the life that you choose, that's in your heart, that's about something bigger than yourse yourself. we'll see. >> there's still a living legacy for a younger generation. >> that's a vael value. ever since i grew up, ever since i was, leak, 4 or 5, which one are you? are you going to run for president? what are you -- you know, people should be, you know -- teddy lived his life. mommy lived her life. uncle jack and uncle bobby and this whole library is about people who lived their lives and

changed the world. i think everybody should have that right. >> now we are joaned here in washington by ted kennedy's close friend and colleague in the senate, john kerry. senator, i'm glad you're here. >> that was a great, great interview. >> well, she had so many personal things to say. >> well -- >> there's been so much talk in the last few days about ted kennedy, the sailor, and his son said so movingly and told a story about practicing until the dinner was cold on a friday night getting ready to raise his own, and his dad said to him there are other people who are smarter and more talented, but we'll win because we'll work the hardest. you've seen him up close in the senate. how did that translate to his work as a legislator? >> well, he was a very, very astute legislator, and it was t wasn't -- teddy superb as a stat

tigs, tack tigs. he had an uncanniability four the ebb and flow in mrekz and a movement of the senate. there is a life in the senate. teddy understood it. so he really knew how to approach his colleagues and knew when the moment was right. i can remember so many times that they say we're going to do this and pu sore scratch your head. is this going to work? you have a sense of how to do it, how to put people in the right place at the right time. he always had an ability to attract superb staff, and we are all about the senate dpepdent on the abilities of our staff. ted just could get the most out of people. he was always thinking not where where we were, but about where he wanted to wind out and how we were going to get there. it wasn't dissimilar to preparing for the race and to

the lessons. >> there were a couple of pictures of you, you and senator kennedy back in 1971. you had come back from vietnam, you and other veterans were protesting on the mall, and he came to meet with you, and you said that was an important event, and then later in 1985 then senator kerry and a wonderful inscription quoting humphrey bogart at the beginning of a wonderful friendship. what did you teach you about being a politician, about being a senator? >> dade, when i first got involved in politics i thought that politics was just about the issues. yo know, you believe this, you believe that, you fight for this, you fight for that. what teddy showed me is that politics -- and this is slightly contrary to what tip o'neil said when he said all politics is local. all politics is personal. that really what teddy taught a lot of us, i think. it is personal and you ought to have fun doing it. i really learned how to have

more fun. you go out and you are awfully serious and you take yourself too seriously. quoted in the comment i made on friday, you know, ted said you want to take the issues seriously, but you don't take yourself too seriously, and h really was good at that. i might also comment on something i thought when listening to maria. you know, i said on friday that the sweetest of all seasons was a gift of this period of time that we had with teddy, and i think it was because at the convention, at the birthday party here in washington at the kennedy center, at harvard, when he went to the white house, when he came to the floor in the senate, there was just this outpouring of love, and it was just very, very moving.

>> he had been giving so much of it over time. he got to experience it. >> maria said he was fighting a lot of that time. there was -- teddy's life was not easy. there was a long period of time where ted feared for his life. a lot of people don't realize that. i mean, after bobby kennedy was assassinated, ted really believed that he was next, and there were many instances in ways that he tried to protect himself or tried to, you know, guarantee that that didt happen, but there were struggles. there was a lot of difficulty in facing up to the massive amount of loss, and so many people often comment you on how did ted do it? these huge figures. joe during the war. jack as president. bobby as a candidate for president. it all fell on him.

his nieces, nephews, and, i mean, what a statement last night on the hill as the dark dusk clouded around us and the cameras were all out and people were just moving away, and just this sea of children surrounding the coffin just heads bowed on it and the roses, you know, on the top of it. it really gave the full meaning to his family importance to the center that he was to his family. >> you paid something now yourself. you said ted kennedy was a leader, knowing how to carry on for his family and for his colleagues after such tragedy. you now sit with the fact that you are the senior senator from massachusetts. how does that fit? >> i woke up this morning, and i still have trouble believing that he is not there.

as maria just said, you have to li your life. don't try to be somebody else. don't go out and try to fill shoes or do something. just be yourself and fight the fight, as we fought them together over these last years. there are a lot of people in the senate who understand the mission. chris dodd, tom harkin, you k w know, brown and the countless people that will carry on and, you know, do their best to try to -- y know, the cause endures. the fight goes on. >> i want to bring in chris dodd, another close friend and can colleague. senator dodd, iant to ask you about something that was so poignant that came out of the funeral yesterday from his son. he said my dad taught me how to like republicans because he said they are just the kind of patriots, they love this country as much as i do, and they're out there fighting the same kind of

fight. yet, your colleague and friend lamented in recent years that it became harder to wor across the aisle, that bipartisanship was something that was fading away. what happened? >> it's not about bipartisanship. i think that had its moments and its peaks and valleys. it's stability in the process more than anything else. there's appear been bipartisanship. it's where you know where you are and which body you serve. as john just so eloquently said, he understood the rhythms of the place. we used to tease, david, with new members, are we going to vote on fridays or not? i would say, listen, you find out what ted kennedy is doing on thursday night. if he is heading to hyannis port on thursday night, there will be no votes on friday. i don't care what the leadership tells you. teddy understood what was going to happen in that place better than most, and that idea of coming back now after september 8th, we get back in session, if you want to honor teddy's

memory, it's to come back and sort of, as i said the other night, sort of put us the blistering days of august and to enter the cool days of september and start acting like senators again where we respect each other, there are differences. you bring that partisanship to the table. you work out your differences. that's what we elected to . that's what teddy understood. it's why he was good at it, as john so well pointed t. he was a tack tigs, a master of the place. he understood it. he also understood his colleagues, and he was willing to listen to them. he paid attention to them. they brought good ideas to the table. if you do all of those thing, then you can achieve the kind of results that teddy achieved and that the senate as a body has achieved historically, and if you abandon civility, then you'll be in trouble. foo nor dodd, you heard march gentleman -- maria shriver reinvigorating the talks about health care. how do you think that happens after the hot days of august? >> i think the president has to

decide to step up and really frame this for us. the leadership can do it. harry reid, i think, has worked hard. i know max baucus is working hard on the finance committee. we put a bill back together in july, as you know, david. teddy's committee, i was asked to chair temporarily for him. a good bill. it was 300 amendments as part of that effort. most of them technical, but many are substantive. that bill has been sitting will. we're ready to work on that along with the finance committee and to move forward. that's what needs to happen here. my belief is that if we can get these bills together and sit down with each other, we can produce a strong vibrant, vitally needed health care reform legislation of accessibility, of course, quality, and affordable. >> i want to get a final thought. first from you senator dodd. as you sit here this morning after all the emotion of the past week, what is the meaning of senator kennedy, the man and the legislator that you are thinking about this morning?

>> well, john, i think said it very well. one thing that was so difficult. how do you capture 30 years of friendship in eight or ten minutes? his ability to overcome adversity was stunning to me. i mean, i just -- what he went through and to come back day after day, time after time. he used to say that all of our difficulties, he would say whatever you're worried about today, i promise you a year from today you won't remember it. if you worry about something else a year from now, but you won't worry about this. he brought that kind of vitality to his life that i think is critical for every human being. i don't care what you are doing. each and every one of us has to sort of get up every day and confront your life as it is and make the best of it, and do something larger than yourself. make a contribution. that's teddy's message, more than anything else. >> senator dodd, thank you. senator kerry, ted kennedy thought about succession. he thought about who would be in the senate after him. do you think you would like a

kennedy to be there? >> sure, but he is not making that decision, and who knows? that's not what it's about, and i think that was not what his efforts were about. he wanted the vote protected during this critical moment and only for that moment. it wouldn't upset the process of having an election. massachusetts will choose, as it ought to choose, but in the meantime, his cause of a lifetime, health care and other issues of great importance, global climate change, and others will not be adversely impacted by the absence of the vote, and that'scritical. can i just say one thing? yesterday driving in, david, it was so stunning these people lining the road, and you couldn't help but think how teddy had made that journey hielf down constitution avenue and over to the cemetery and he has been the face of the moments

of remembrance, if you will accident for bobby, for jack. you remember him up there with ethyl, with vicky, with joe, and now he is there. it sort of hit us that, you know, it's a generational shift, but not the end of an era. what ted did -- there was one sign i saw, the people's senator. it was hand scribed. it was such a genuine kwout pouring as a thank you for fighting for people, and i think if we all remember that and try our best to continue to just stay focus odd -- focused on why we're here, then we'll honor him. >> senator kerry, senator dodd, thank you both very much. we have more here coming up. more on senator kennedy's life and legacy with his niece kathleen kennedy townsend, long-time kennedy advisor bob shrum, and presidential historian doris kearns goodwin, and a special lock back at senator kennedy's 45-year

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