[Daryn Kagan, Cnn Anchor:] How is the president being received by members of the U.S. Military? Joining us from New York, to ponder that question and other questions is senior political analyst Bill Schneider. Bill, good morning, thanks for being with us.
[William Schneider, Cnn Senior Political Analyst:] Good morning, Daryn.
[Kagan:] First question right off the bat: How is the new president being perceived by this military?
[Schneider:] As a friend and as supporter, much more so than Bill Clinton, who was suspect to a lot of people in the military. George W. Bush is very popular with service people. A lot of service people are men, and he's been very popular throughout with men. But there's one potential problem: Donald Rumsfeld, the secretary of defense, spoke a few minutes ago, and he's undertaking a thorough review of the military service the contracting, the arrangements, and how it should be modernized for the 21st century. He mentioned that a few minutes ago. And that's got a lot of people in the so-called military-industrial complex very nervous about what this administration might do to reform the military.
[Kagan:] But might this administration have to reassess what its plans are for the military, now with the shift of the balance of power in the U.S. Senate, Carl Levin, a Democrat, set to take over the Armed Services Committee. He's a big critic of a lot of these suggestions, like missile defense.
[Schneider:] Missile defense, certainly. This administration acknowledges that missile defense has not been perfected. They seem determined to go ahead and deploy it anyway. Senator Levin, the Democrat who's going to chair the Armed Services Committee says, along with other Democrats, like the new majority leader, Tom Daschle, that they might be reluctant to authorize deployment of missile defense. Democrats have always favored more research. The Democrats have got to be careful on this and other issues, not simply to be the party that stands up and says we're going to stop George Bush and right-wing agenda, as they refer to it. They've got to have an agenda of their own. Interestingly, Senator Levin does favor a lot of military reforms that Secretary Rumsfeld is considering.
[Kagan:] Let's look ahead here, Bill. The president from here goes to Mesa, Arizona, just outside of Phoenix, and then on to California, a state where somehow he hasn't quite managed to make it in his first 100-plus days in office.
[Schneider:] It's amazing. One eight of Americans live in California, the nation's largest state. He's visited 26 states, but he hasn't been to California yet. Well, he's going this week. He invested over 10 million in the California campaign, and he ended up losing it by 12 points; it just did not pay off. He's making his first trip there. There's kind of a war going on between California and Texas over the California electricity crisis. The Californians, including the governor, Senator Feinstein, blame Texas energy companies for price- gouging California consumers and utilities, and they want the federal government to impose wholesale price caps on electricity, and they're getting no sympathy there the federal government. Californians claim it's because it's being run by two former energy executives, George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.
[Kagan:] So what kind of reception do you think he'll be getting in California?
[Schneider:] There are a lot of Republicans in California, and I'm sure he's going to be very careful where he shows up. There's still a lot of money in California that Republicans want to raise, and a lot of worried Republicans trying to figure out what's the future of their party in that state. I think the electricity crisis throws everything in California up in the air, and the president, we all expect, is going to make a serious effort to address that issue and talk about what the federal government is prepared to do.
[Kagan:] Bill Schneider, enjoy your time in New York. We've enjoyed your brief time with us here this morning. Thank you. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com