Hawaii state Sens. Lorraine Inouye, left, and Donna Mercado Kim, right, and Hawaii Floral Resources agent Joy Kobashigawa Lewis decorated Hawaii's convention delegation sign with Hawaii-grown anthurium flowers and ti leaves yesterday at the FleetCenter in Boston.
Clinton tells Democrats
that Kerry would
‘rally the world’BOSTON -- Energized by Bill and Hillary Clinton, Democrats castigated George W. Bush as a president who mishandled the economy and bungled the war on terror. John Kerry will "rally the world to our side," the former president said as the party turned to an aging liberal warrior and Kerry's outspoken wife to define the Massachusetts senator.
Day Two of the Democratic National Convention focuses on what Kerry's campaign describes as his lifetime of service, from a volunteer combat tour in Vietnam to more than two decades in political office.
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The Navy veteran campaigned in Florida on Monday and was appearing in the Navy town of Norfolk, Va., on Tuesday, where he was calling for the Sept. 11 commission to continue working past its scheduled end date of Aug. 26 to ensure recommended reforms are put in place.
President Bush may act within days on some of the commission's recommendations, a spokeswoman said, as the question of which candidate can best protect America continued to dominate the fight for the presidency.
In the absence of Kerry, who was to arrive Wednesday, Democrats were hearing from Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy, the liberal icon whom Republicans love to link with Kerry; and the candidate's wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, who drew attention this week by telling a reporter to "shove it."
Neither seemed likely to match the Clintons' overwhelming crowd appeal.
Introducing her husband Monday night as "the last great Democratic president," Mrs. Clinton revved up the packed convention hall by saying Kerry "will lead the world, not alienate it."
When the former president took the stage, delegates jumped up, screamed, applauded and waved placards. Even as he clearly enjoyed it, Clinton quickly turned the focus to insisting that Kerry would be a good commander in chief.
"During the Vietnam War, many young men, including the current president, the vice president and me, could have gone to Vietnam and didn't. John Kerry came from a privileged background. He could have avoided going too, but instead, he said: Send me," Clinton said.
In keeping with the Democratic convention strategy of avoiding strong Bush-bashing, Clinton jabbed the Republicans sharply on the economy, tax cuts and corporate windfalls, while taking more subtle digs at the president himself.
Kerry has "a willingness to hear other views, even those who disagree with him," Clinton said. "John Kerry will make choices that reflect both conviction and common sense."
Sen. John Edwards watched the opening speeches at his home in North Carolina, resting a raspy voice and doing some last-minute polishing of the speech in which he will accept the party's vice presidential nomination Thursday, aides said.
The head of the largest union in the AFL-CIO created a minor stir when he told The Washington Post the labor movement is in crisis and might be more motivated to change if Kerry is not elected president. But Andy Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union, quickly clarified his remarks, emphasizing Monday evening after the story appeared on the paper's Web site that he is committed to helping Kerry win.
Republicans, in town to combat the Democrats' message, aimed to contrast what they called Clinton's more centrist policies with Kerry's voting record in the Senate. And they clearly reveled in Clinton's deft touch with the crowd.
"It's going to be difficult for Kerry to wrest control of these folks from the thrall of Bill Clinton," veteran GOP strategist Rich Galen said.
Former Vice President Al Gore urged Democrats to "fully and completely" channel their anger over the bitter Florida recount, which decided the 2000 election in Bush's favor, and send Kerry to the White House.
The former vice president drew repeated ovations from delegates at the FleetCenter, particularly when he drew his wife Tipper into a briefer version of the kiss they shared at the convention four years ago in Los Angeles.
Pre-convention polls show Kerry tied or slightly ahead of Bush, although the same surveys show the president with a clear advantage over his challenger in handling the war on terror.
The first national political convention since Sept. 11, 2001, was influenced by the terror attacks in ways both big and small. In a ceremony of remembrance, the hall went nearly dark but for small flashlights held aloft as the strains of "Amazing Grace" floated across the arena from the violin of a 16-year-old musician.
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., greeted her husband, former President Bill Clinton, yesterday after introducing him to delegates at the Democratic National Convention.
Outside, the extraordinarily tight security continued, with armed officers standing guard along a seven-foot-tall metal security fence that ringed the convention complex.Police responded to numerous reports of unattended or suspicious packages, including one left in a restroom at the FleetCenter. All were found to be harmless.
Protests were scattered, but celebrities were abundant.
Hip-hop stars Wyclef Jean, Reverend Run and Lloyd Banks attended a voter registration event sponsored by music mogul Russell Simmons. Actor Ben Affleck was inside the hall, and John Cusack and Alec Baldwin circulated at receptions.
Bush, meanwhile, stayed out of the public eye at his Texas ranch, where he went mountain bike riding. At one point he fell on a steep descent and wound up with a cut knee.
The president hopped up and continued his ride.
