SENATOR JOHN KERRY issued a respectful and respectable statement in response to the news of President Reagan’s death on Saturday. “Ronald Reagan’s love of country was infectious,” he said. “Even when he was breaking Democrats’ hearts, he did so with a smile and in the spirit of honest and open debate. Despite the disagreements, he lived by that noble ideal that at 5:00 p.m. we weren’t Democrats or Republicans, we were Americans and friends.” This was an appropriate, even deft, statement–followed by the announcement by Kerry that he was canceling campaign events this week.