Reagan bridged party divide, Democrats say
Kerry, others make pilgrimage to pay respects
SIMI VALLEY, Calif. -- With his hand to his heart and his head bowed, Senator John F. Kerry yesterday made a brief visit to Ronald Reagan's flag-draped coffin to pay his respects to the former president.
In California to attend his elder daughter's graduation today from film school, Kerry diverted from Los Angeles to this northwestern suburb immediately upon landing to make his 20-minute appearance at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Entering the lobby, Kerry paused in silent reflection at the foot of the mahogany casket and bit his lip before making the sign of the cross and then stepping away.
Kerry was not the only Democrat to pay tribute to a conservative Republican president whose appeal extended across the partisan divide. Others did so in the nation's capital, where officials are preparing for a state funeral in the Capitol Rotunda, and California, where tens of thousands waited in long lines this week to bid farewell.
"I have been a Democrat from the beginning," said Andrea Felix of the Simi Valley area, who waited in line for six hours starting at 4:30 a.m. "Did I vote for him? Of course. I loved him and thought he was one of the greatest presidents. He just had so much humanity."
In Washington, Democrats mourned what they considered the death of an era of civility and mutual respect between the two major parties and between the executive and legislative branches.
Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat of California, recalled meeting Reagan soon after she was elected to Congress, describing him as "very gracious" despite the fact that her liberal politics were starkly different from his. Senator Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat and his party's whip, spoke affectionately of Reagan, who had sent him a hand-written note on the issue of term limits.
"He surrounded himself with good people. They weren't mean-spirited," Reid said.
No senator made a direct comparison on the Senate floor with President Bush or others in the administration, but many lawmakers have bemoaned what they call a decline of collegiality and cooperation under the current leadership. Congress -- especially the minority Democrats -- has frequently tussled with the White House over the release of documents, and Democrats and Republicans on the Hill say they rarely socialize with one another.
So many Californians came to pay their respects that the Reagan Library announced it had extended viewing hours until 10 p.m. yesterday. Library officials said 50,000 mourners had come to the library as of noon yesterday to say goodbye to the nation's 40th president. Some mourners said they waited as long as 11 hours.
During his cross-country flight from Washington, Kerry recalled first becoming aware of Reagan in the 1960s, when he was a spokesman for
"His speech for Barry Goldwater was better than anything you heard from the campaign," said Kerry.
Meanwhile, Reagan's daughter, Patti Davis, wrote of details from her father's death bed in an article to be published tomorrow in People magazine. "At the last moment, when his breathing told us this was it, he opened his eyes and looked straight at my mother," she wrote.
Susan Milligan of the Globe staff contributed from Washington. Material from the Associated Press was used in this article. 
