Former president Bill Clinton, regarded by many as the most powerful and persuasive speaker in the US, is upset at being left off the speakers' list for the funeral ceremony of Ronald Reagan on Friday.

"President Clinton really held out all hope the funeral (of former president Reagan) would be a non-partisan event, like (former president Richard) Nixon's was," said the Drudge Report. 

Quoting a "top Clinton source", it said: "He's angry and disappointed neither he nor (former) President (Jimmy) Carter -- both Democrats while President George W Bush is a Republican -- have been asked to speak, as of yet."

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Former President George H W Bush, father of the present President; former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher; and former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney will join President Bush in eulogising Reagan. However, some Democratic leaders said they were told that is what Reagan's family wanted and what has happened in the past.

 "I would be honoured to speak, and I know others would too who are Democrats," said Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle, "but if that is the family wish, then certainly we will respect that."

Reagan started as a trade union leader and a Democrat, in addition to being a sports commentator, but he later switched to the Republican Party and went on to become a two-term Governor of California and a two-term President of the United States.

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