Kerry Set To Accept Nomination

Hours away from laying claim to the Democratic presidential nomination and making the most important speech of his career, John Kerry rehearsed a brief mock performance Thursday.

"Can we do it now," he quipped looking out over a vast, nearly empty hall where he will try to convince Americans Thursday night that he can protect them from terrorists and improve their lives better than President Bush.

Relaxed in an open shirt and blue blazer, Kerry arrived at the Fleet Center shortly before noon. "Great hall," he said, referring to what in other seasons is the home of the Celtics and the Bruins basketball and hockey teams.

Aides said the speech would run about 50 minutes and would include some contrasts with the current president, part of a strategy Kerry's team imposed on all convention speakers to limit Bush-bashing. No new policy initiatives were expected in Kerry's address, aides said.

"He wants to serve you — your cause is his cause," Edwards said as a parade of Democrats tried to focus attention on Kerry's qualifications to be commander in chief.'

Edwards resumed an energetic pace Thursday, meeting with several delegations and trying to build on the chants of support he got during his address. "Do exactly the same thing for John Kerry," he urged. "The truth is, we can't do this without you. We need you out there working, organizing, getting people to the polls."

Kerry watched from his Beacon Hill home as Democrats formally nominated the Massachusetts senator for the presidency in a boisterous roll call late Wednesday night. Ohio put him over the top, just as he hopes it will on Nov. 2.

In his rehearsal Thursday, Kerry checked the locations of cameras, TelePrompTers and various state delegations from behind the lectern. He practiced several gestures, walking across the stage several times.

For his microphone check, Kerry jovially addressed reporters at the front of the podium: "Members of the Fourth Estate, I've called you here to tell you that your reign is over."

On the convention's final day, police anticipated a flurry of street protests. The Boston-area Bl(A)ck Tea Society, an ad hoc group of self-described anarchists and anti-authority activists, called for "decentralized direct action" but without violence.

About 100 protesters rode bicycles out from Copley Square on Thursday, through downtown Boston and the Back Bay neighborhood, challenging police trying to keep up on their own bikes.

Polls show a tight race between Kerry and President Bush. In a sign of the tough fight to come, the president taped new TV commercials, with his Texas ranch as the backdrop, for when the campaign ad war resumes next month. The Democratic Party also is preparing $6 million in ads for launch this weekend, pitching the Kerry-Edwards ticket in more than a dozen battleground states.

"This is a great opportunity for John Kerry," George McGovern, the 1972 Democratic nominee for president, tells CBSNews.com Chief Political Writer David Paul Kuhn. "It's the first time, and it may be a long time, before he gets another opportunity like this.

"[Kerry] has got to show that he is a man of strength, that he is decisive, that he is forceful and that he has a big heart."

Hours after the convention closes, Kerry will begin a two-week campaign tour across the country by bus, train, boat and plane. Bush, after a week's vacation and laying low during the Democrats' fest, resumes campaigning Friday, too, with a blitz through battleground states Missouri, Michigan and Ohio.

Flanked by his family, Edwards, whose Southern charm and speaking skills are viewed as overcoming Kerry's weaknesses, criticized negative attacks by Republicans trying to portray Kerry as a waffling Massachusetts liberal who has failed to support U.S. soldiers at war time.

"The truth is, we still live in two different Americas," said Edwards, the son of a Carolina mill worker and the first in his family to attend college.

An America, Edward argued, that is still divided into rich and poor. And, as CBS News Early Show co-anchor Hannah Storm reports, the North Carolina senator laid out the ticket's plans to level the playing field.

"We're going to say, 'No,' forever to any American working full-time and living in poverty," Edwards said, reprising the theme that fueled his own surprisingly strong challenge for the Democratic presidential nomination last winter. "Not in our America!"

Like dozens of other convention speakers, Edwards' script stressed the overriding national security theme. He recalled Kerry's service in Vietnam, saying he ordered his swiftboat turned around despite enemy fire and plucked a fellow American from the river to safety.

"Decisive. Strong. Is that not what we need in a commander in chief?" Edwards asked.

It's been an ongoing theme in Boston: likening today's Democrats to the original patriots, reports Storm. Rebelling now against the so-called tyranny of the Bush administration and making the case that decorated soldier Kerry is the best man to lead the charge.

To reinforce that message, a parade of 12 retired admirals and generals, including two former chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and former presidential candidate Gen. Wesley Clark, came to the convention stage Wednesday in a show of support for Kerry.

Republicans, who have kept a presence in Boston to answer the Democrats' charges, quickly noted that Kerry had questioned Edwards' experience before choosing him as a running mate.

When Kerry, 60, goes before the unified Democratic convention, he'll aim to tell Americans who he is, what he seeks to do and why he should be president. He is said to be planning to break through his New England reserve to reveal more of himself.

Others will lay some of the groundwork.

Senate colleagues and two of his presidential rivals will testify to his promise of an America that is stronger and more secure. Daughters Alexandra and Vanessa will talk about him as a father. Also speaking is Jim Rassmann, an Army Special Forces lieutenant whose life Kerry saved during a gunfire attack in Vietnam.

Delegates will also see a short biographical film portraying Kerry as a decorated Vietnam War hero and devoted husband and father — not as the wealthy, 20-year Senate veteran with a patrician's airs as some see him.