US: The Democratic National Convention gets under way in Boston today, but without its star attraction, Senator John Kerry, who is half-way through a six-day cross-country journey that will climax with his formal nomination on Thursday. Conor O'Clery reports from Boston.
Some 4,350 delegates from 50 states have arrived in the Massachusetts city for the first party convention held with America at war since 1972, when the Vietnam conflict was winding down.
They already know that their nominee for president and vice-president will be Mr Kerry and North Carolina senator John Edwards, but a rousing, successful convention will enhance the prospect of the local Massachusetts senator becoming president after the November 2nd election.
Mr Kerry started a symbolic passage across America on Friday in his birthplace of Denver, Colorado, where he pointed out that the maternity unit is located significantly in the "west wing" of the military hospital where he was born.
He also recalled that the Denver suburb where he first lived is Aurora, meaning dawn, which is as conveniently symbolic for him as someone hoping to lead America forward as was Bill Clinton's birthplace of Hope, Arkansas, when the then Arkansas governor ran for president 12 years ago.
Sen Kerry flew to Iowa and Ohio over the weekend and today will be in Florida. Tomorrow he will tour Virginia and Pennsylvania before heading north for his acceptance speech on Thursday which will climax the four-day political festival.
Winning one or more of these key states is crucial to the Democratic candidate's goal of achieving the 270 electoral votes necessary to take the White House. Going into the convention week, Mr Kerry is narrowly trailing President Bush, and is able to count on only 14 states and the District of Columbia, with a total of 193 electoral votes, compared to 25 states that Mr Bush is sure of, with 217 votes, according to an Associated Press analysis.
In nationwide polls, Mr Kerry and Mr Bush are in a statistical dead heat, with voters still more wary of the Democratic challenger on national security issues.
Aiming to strike a high note, Mr Kerry is avoiding personal criticism of Mr Bush, but his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, had a dig at the President in Iowa, where she told supporters that her husband loved history, adding, "He reads history, he actually reads."
Mr Kerry continues to lace his speeches with the word "values", declaring in a radio address, "We intend to criss-cross this country reminding people that what matters is not the narrow values that divide, but the shared values that have always united every American: faith and family, strength and service, responsibility and opportunity for all."
Mr Kerry is emphasising jobs, healthcare, energy independence, and better international relations, and, while not making Iraq a major issue, draws applause when he says he will not send young Americans into harm's way for a war of choice rather than necessity.
With the convention likely to dominate election news for the week, President Bush has gone to his ranch at Crawford, Texas, to prepare for his own speech to the Republican National Convention in New York at the end of the month.
The Democratic convention gets under way with speeches from former presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, and former vice-president Al Gore. Sen Hillary Clinton will introduce her husband, a last-minute concession to defuse the fury of her supporters at her omission from the original list of speakers.