US: Al Sharpton gave the delegates some of the red meat they hungered for, reports Conor O'Clery, in Boston
There are four things a running mate must do in his convention speech. He must tell the big TV audience something about himself, he must get out the message, he must whip up the delegates and he must make sure he doesn't upstage the presidential candidate.
Summoning up all his skills as a trial lawyer, John Edwards managed to get it about right in his primetime slot at the Democratic National Convention.
He was introduced by his popular, clever wife, Elizabeth, who in turn was presented by their winsome 22-year-old daughter, Cate.
Their two younger children, Emma Claire (6) and Jack (4) joined them on the podium after the speech, and the cameras picked up his misty-eyed "Norman Rockwell" parents, Wallace and Bobbie, on the floor.
The 51-year-old North Carolina senator recounted for the thousandth time how his father worked in a mill but managed to send him to college, the first in his family.
He reworked his stump speech about two Americas, one for people who have achieved the American dream, the other for the rest who live from pay cheque to pay cheque.
He pledged to work for "one America", promising "Hope is on the way". As he repeated this mantra, his voice rising, some delegates produced big shiny placards declaring "Hope is on the way", proof of how carefully cheoreographed this convention is.
Edwards praised Kerry as a tough commander-in-chief, emphasising his commitment to defeat al-Qaeda with phrases culled straight from President Bush's campaign textbook: "You cannot run. You cannot hide. We will destroy you."
He never mentioned George W. Bush once by name, in keeping with the bland conformity imposed on all speakers to show they are not just a bunch of Bush-haters but a band of hope-bringers.
He did, however, criticise the "relentless negative attacks" against John Kerry and had the audience chanting "Yes, yes" when he added: "So in the weeks ahead, we know what's coming, don't we? More negative attacks. Aren't you sick of it?"
Delegates looked to the Rev Al Sharpton to break the run of milquetoast speeches, and the firebrand New York preacher didn't disappoint.
He cast aside the script sanitised by John Kerry's censors and gave the delegates some of the red meat they hungered for. He touched on the deep core of resentment over the 2000 Florida vote when thousands of blacks were disenfranchised.
"Mr President, the reason we are fighting so hard, the reason we took Florida so seriously, is that our right to vote wasn't gained because of our age," he said. "Our vote was soaked in the blood of martyrs, soaked in the blood of [civil rights activists] Goodman, Chaney and Schwerner, soaked in the blood of four little girls in Birmingham.
"This vote is sacred to us. This vote can't be bargained away. This vote can't be given away. In all due respect, Mr President, read my lips: our vote is not for sale."
The delegates loved it, especially the dig at George W. Bush's father, George, who used his Republican convention speech in 1988 to make the promise he didn't keep: "Read my lips - no new taxes".
All week the Democrats have been fed a diet of sly digs, of invective disguised as positive aspirations, rather than outright condemnations of the man who has united them in opposition.
When Howard Dean said he wanted a president who was "good and strong" did he mean the incumbent is "bad and weak", asked Todd Purdam in the New York Times, which in a survey found that in the first three days speakers used the words "hope", "faith", "values", "healthcare" and "jobs" 515 times compared to only 19 mentions of the name "Bush".
In keeping with his new insider status in the Democratic Party, Mr Sharpton did pledge support to John Kerry as the only righteous choice to protect America's freedoms, and after his speech was warmly embraced by the party chairman, Terry McAuliffe, and invited to his private booth.
All the floor speakers, even Sharpton, were outdone in Bush-bashing by the son of the late Republican president, Ronald Reagan, in an interview in the next edition of magazine. Radio journalist Ron Reagan, who addressed the convention on Tuesday on stem-cell research, let rip in a way many speakers would have liked to.
"George W. Bush and his administration have taken normal mendacity to a startling new level," he said. "They traffic in big lies, indulge in any number of symptomatic small lies and ultimately, have come to embody dishonesty itself. They are a lie. And people, finally, have started catching on."
Meanwhile outside Boston's FleetCenter - the unattractive and dismal site of the convention - dozens of Vietnam veterans turned up on Wednesday evening to demonstrate against Kerry.
A civil war has broken out between pro-Kerry and anti-Kerry vets, and some of the latter are bringing out a book soon called Unfit for Command, claiming that only two of his 23 fellow swiftboat commanders from his division support his candidacy.