Kerry Reports For Duty

Democrat Challenges Bush On Iraq, Vows 'Best Days Still To Come'

(CBS/AP)  John Kerry accepted the Democratic presidential nomination Thursday, bluntly challenging President Bush's Iraq policy and vowing to be a commander in chief "who will never mislead us into war."

"Saying there are weapons of mass destruction in Iraq doesn't make it so," said the Massachusetts senator, a decorated Vietnam War veteran battling an incumbent president in the age of terrorism.

"Saying we can fight a war on the cheap doesn't make it so. And proclaiming mission accomplished certainly doesn't make it so," Kerry added in remarks to thousands of delegates packed into the Fleet Center and a nationwide television audience of uncounted millions.

The hall erupted in cheers as Kerry completed his speech with a promise that, "Our best days are still to come." The ovation grew louder when running mate John Edwards joined Kerry on the podium, followed by their wives and children.

Kerry's speech capped a four-day convention designed to persuade millions of undecided voters in the battleground states that he is a man tested by war and ready to take command in an era of terrorism.

Kerry, 60, took to the stage to thunderous applause from the convention floor and the strains of Bruce Springsteen's "No Surrender," the campaign's unofficial theme song.

Kerry vowed to reverse policies that send U.S. jobs overseas and promised to expand health care, improve education and "fight a smarter, more effective war" against terror.

"I defended this country as a young man and I will defend it as president," he said.

"As president, I will restore trust and credibility to the White House," he said, a variation on Mr. Bush's 2000 campaign pledge to bring honor and dignity to the Oval Office.

Kerry vowed to build a stronger military at home and strong alliances overseas, saying the nation then will be able to tell terrorists: "You will lose and we will win."

The GOP issued a rebuttal to Kerry's remarks.

"John Kerry missed an opportunity to help the American people understand his vote for the war in Iraq based on the same intelligence that the president viewed, his description of himself as an anti-war candidate and his subsequent vote against troops on the front lines. He's right, America can do better," said Bush campaign chairman Marc Racicot.

In keeping with the military theme, Kerry was introduced by former Sen. Max Cleland of Georgia, who lost three limbs while serving in Vietnam.

Cleland called Kerry an "authentic American hero."

"John Kerry's service to his country didn't end in Vietnam," he said. "It began there."

Cleland was preceded at the podium by the men Kerry calls his band of brothers, more than a dozen Vietnam swift boat crewmates and Jim Rassmann, the man who credits Kerry with saving his life under fire.

"I've seen John Kerry in action. I know his character. I've witnessed his bravery and leadership under fire. And I know he will be a great commander-in-chief," Rassmann said.

Eager to strike out from their convention city, Kerry and vice presidential running mate John Edwards departed Friday for a 3,500-mile, coast-to-coast campaign swing through 21 states.

After spending the week at his Texas ranch, President Bush resumes campaigning this weekend with a bus tour of battleground states and a new message. "We have turned the corner, and we are not turning back,'' he says in a new stump speech, excerpts of which were obtained by The Associated Press.

Kerry began the week tied or slightly ahead of Mr. Bush in the polls, a strong position for a challenger. Whatever sort of surge in support he receives from four days of his highly choreographed convention, Republicans hope to counter next month when they meet in New York to nominate Mr. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney for re-election.

He only mentioned President Bush once by name and won some of the biggest cheers from the partisan crowd by criticizing other administration officials - Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Attorney General John Ashcroft.

"I will be a commander-in-chief, who will never mislead us into war," Kerry said. "I will have a vice president who will not conduct secret meetings with polluters to rewrite our environmental laws.

"I will have a secretary of defense who will listen to the best advice of the military leaders. And I will appoint an attorney general who will uphold the Constitution of the United States."

As CBS News Correspondent Byron Pitts reports, Kerry came to Boston to show his passion, make the case he can keep America safer than President Bush and paint a more positive picture of America's future.|

Kerry's decision to question the president over Iraq comes at a time of dwindling support for the president on the issue. But Kerry sought to broaden his appeal well beyond Iraq as he bore in on national security issues that he has placed at the core of his candidacy.

"Strength is more than tough words," Kerry added in a slap at the president without mentioning him by name.

"I will immediately reform the intelligence system so policy is guided by facts, and facts are never distorted by politics," he said in reference to claims that the president relied on faulty intelligence in deciding to invade Iraq in 2003.

"And as president, I will bring back this nation's time-honored tradition: The United States of America never goes to war because we want to, we only go to war because we have to," Kerry said.

Kerry's convention scriptwriters supplemented the speech with a biographical video pitched to voters who will choose a president come fall.

"I would give him about a C on this," reports CBS News Early Show political analyst Craig Crawford. "The Kerry campaign thinks they can just wait for George Bush to collapse and then they will be elected.

"I don't think they did as much as they needed to do to tell people what they're voting for when they vote for John Kerry."