BOSTON, July 28: Democrats mixed new attacks on US President George Bush at their national convention on Tuesday with a first effort to sell their own presidential candidate John Kerry to a still undecided US electorate.
The second day of the four-day gathering in Boston was programmed as a focused attempt to tell the story of a four-term senator who remains largely unknown to many Americans.
Speaker after speaker praised Mr Kerry's leadership capacity and vision but the Democrats could not resist the opportunity to take additional swipes at the Republican president and settle other scores.
Even would-be first lady Teresa Heinz Kerry, the last speaker to take the podium on her husband's behalf, spent much of her time hitting back at critics after her run-in with a reporter she told to "shove it".
"My right to speak my mind, to have a voice - to be what some have called opinionated - is a right I deeply and profoundly cherish," she said, drawing roars of approval from the crowd.
"My only hope is that, one day soon, women - who have all earned the right to their opinions - instead of being labeled opinionated, will be called smart or well-informed, just as men are," she said.
Senator Edward Kennedy, in what may be his last hurrah on a national stage, exhorted Democrats to put his protege Kerry in the White House and return the United States to the world community.
"Our struggle is with the politics of fear and favouritism in our own time, in our own country," the party patriarch said. "Our struggle is with those who put their own narrow interest ahead of the public interest."
As former president Bill Clinton and other Democratic heavyweights did here before him, Mr Kennedy drew a sharp contrast between his party and a Bush administration he said had burned its bridges with the rest of the world.
"Interdependence defines our world. For all our might, for all our wealth, we know we are only as strong as the bonds we share with others," he told the crowd in the Fleet Center sports arena.
Howard Dean, who goaded timorous Democrats into opposing Mr Bush's anti-terror policies and invasion of Iraq until his own presidential hopes crashed, was given wild cheers by the crowd.
"We're not going to be afraid to stand up for what we believe. We're not going to let those who disagree with us shout us down under a banner of false patriotism," the former Vermont governor told the 5,000 delegates and thousands of more guests.
The Democrats also pulled off something of a political coup as the youngest son of the late president and Republican icon Ronald Reagan took centre stage to lock horns with Mr Bush over the president's insistence on limiting stem-cell research.
The convention in John Kerry's hometown comes at a critical time for the Democrat, who appears to be losing ground to Mr Bush in several areas before the Nov 2 election and has yet to fully define his image and message.
A Washington Post-ABC News poll released on Tuesday showed that if Mr Kerry was running neck and neck with Bush, 54 per cent of Americans were still unfamiliar with his positions. Among Democrats alone, the percentage was 46 per cent.
More people (49-43 per cent) saw Mr Bush as the candidate who better reflected their values, reversing a two-point Kerry edge last month. Bush also widened his lead on who could better keep the country safe to 54-38 per cent.
Mr Kerry lagged on handling Iraq, the "war on terrorism" and taxes, while the president pulled even on the economy and education, issues that were a Democratic strength two weeks ago.
Although Bush is struggling with criticism over his military operation in Iraq, a new Gallup poll showed 45 percent of Americans felt he had a clear plan for the followup while only one-third said Mr Kerry did.
Kerry campaign aides blame the impressions on tens of millions of dollars spent on television advertising by the Republicans to portray the Massachusetts lawmaker as weak and waffling on defense.
They see this week's convention, held under ultra-tight security, as a crucial opportunity for him to highlight his experience and mettle under fire. On Monday, an all-star lineup of Bill Clinton, his vice president Al Gore and former chief executive Jimmy Carter savaged Mr Bush on Iraq, the Sept 11 attacks and US diplomacy.
Mr Clinton wowed the convention's opening night with a polished speech that sought to make clear the differences between Democrats and Republicans - something Mr Kerry has been criticized for failing to do.
He said Mr Kerry "favors shared responsibility, shared opportunity and more global cooperation" while Mr Bush and the Republicans "favor concentrated wealth and power, leaving people to fend for themselves and more unilateral action". -AFP
