US:BARACK OBAMA will accept the Democratic presidential nomination tonight before 75,000 people in a giant football stadium, against a backdrop of classical pillars that resemble a Greek temple.
Organisers have kept many of the details of tonight's event under wraps, although Bruce Springsteen, who has endorsed Mr Obama, is expected to perform after the speech.
Tomorrow morning, Mr Obama will leave Denver with his wife Michelle and running mate Joe Biden to embark on a bus tour of the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan.
As polls showed no improvement for Mr Obama since he added Mr Biden to the ticket, Republicans yesterday sought to portray the Democrat as "dangerously unprepared" for the White House because he once described Iran as a "tiny" nation that did not pose a serious threat to the US in the way the Soviet Union did.
"Iran. Radical Islamic government. Known sponsors of terrorism. Developing nuclear capabilities to 'generate power' but threatening to eliminate Israel," states their advertisement. "Terrorism, destroying Israel - those aren't 'serious threats'?"
In his keynote speech to the Democratic convention, former Virginia governor Mark Warner sought to keep the focus of the campaign on the economy, portraying John McCain as out of touch and behind the times.
"The race for the future is on, and it won't be won if only some Americans are in the running," he said.
"It won't be won with yesterday's ideas and yesterday's divisions. And it won't be won with a president who is stuck in the past.
"We need a president who understands the world today, the future we seek and the change we need."
A former businessman who is running for the US senate in November, Mr Warner played down ideological distinctions, characterising the presidential race in generational terms.
"Barack Obama knows this too: we need leaders who see our common ground as sacred ground. We need leaders who will appeal to us not as Republicans or Democrats, but first and foremost as Americans," said Mr Warner.
"Because this election isn't about liberal versus conservative. It's not about left versus right. It's about the future versus the past.
"In this election, at this moment in our history, we know what the problems are.
"We know that at this critical juncture we have only one shot to get it right. And we know that these new times demand new thinking."
Montana governor Brian Schweitzer was the convention's surprise star turn on Tuesday, bringing delegates to their feet to chant their opposition to Mr McCain and the prospect of four more years of Republican occupancy in the White House.
"At a time when America should be working harder than ever to develop new, clean sources, John McCain wants more of the same and has taken more than $1 million in campaign donations from the oil and gas industry," Mr Schweitzer said.
"Now he wants to give the oil companies another $4 billion in tax breaks - $4 billion in tax breaks for big oil?
"That's a lot of change, but it's not the change we need."