Republicans come out swinging

NEW YORK - Republicans belittled Democratic Senator John Kerry as a shift-in-the-wind candidate unworthy of the White House as they started their national convention 6.5km from the scene of America's worst terrorist attack.

"We need George Bush more than ever," said Rudy Giuliani, Mayor of New York City on September 11, 2001, when hijacked aircraft destroyed the city's World Trade Centre.

Senator John McCain, of Arizona, said: "We need a leader with the experience to make the tough decisions and the resolve to stick with them."

The President will accept the party's nomination on Friday.

Yesterday, he was campaigning in New Hampshire and Michigan.

But he triggered a stir that muddled the convention's carefully scripted message when he told an interviewer he doubted victory was possible in the war on terror.

"I don't think you can win it," he told a television interviewer. "But I think you can create the conditions that those who use terror as a tool are less acceptable in parts of the world."

Kerry responded that the struggle was "absolutely" winnable and Democratic vice-presidential candidate John Edwards said Bush's remark amounted to a concession of defeat.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan hastened to clarify the President's remarks, saying Bush meant the war was not a conventional one, and neither would its ending be conventional.

The four-day convention begins with polls showing Bush and Kerry in a virtual tie. The election is on November 2.

The delegates are meeting at Madison Square Garden, not far from where the World Trade Centre twin towers once stood.

They are gathering under security so tight that umbrellas are banned as potential weapons.

Polls show Bush's leadership in the war on terror is a political strength, so a parade of speakers used their turn at the podium to summon memories of September 11, 2001.

"Timmy is my hero. I am honoured to share him with you," said Tara Stackpole, widow of a fireman killed in the burning towers.

"Just as I am proud to lend America my oldest son, Kevin, who is headed to Iraq in December with his Navy unit."

In a prelude to the evening's political oratory, delegates ratified Bush's unflinchingly conservative re-election platform.

The platform calls for constitutional amendments to ban gay marriages and abortions. It also opposes civil unions for gays.

McCain and Giuliani were the evening's principal prime-time speakers, a reflection of their ability to command political support outside the President's conservative base.

And while Giuliani ridiculed Kerry repeatedly, McCain offered no criticism of the President's Democratic rival, his longtime Senate colleague and a man he calls a friend.

But he gave a full-throated endorsement of Bush as a wartime president, saying the US-led invasion of Iraq was "necessary, achievable and noble".


McCain has been the wild card in the Republican pack. He was Bush's defeated rival in 2000, and has several times jumped to the defence of Kerry, his old Senate friend.

But the outspoken and independent-minded McCain has metamorphosed into the perfect team player, campaigning with Bush in key swing states.

Many believe McCain is contemplating his own run for the White House in 2008.

In national terms, his readiness to criticise Republican policy on occasion gives him a unique appeal.

No Republican is as popular with independents. Even among Democrats, McCain has an approval rating of over 50 per cent.

Giuliani, who achieved national prominence for his stewardship of the city in the hours and days after the September 11 attacks, said that since that day, "President Bush has remained rock solid. It doesn't matter how he is demonised."

By contrast, he said, Kerry had switched his position on the 1991 Gulf War, on an US$87 billion ($135.45 billion) funding bill for postwar Afghanistan and Iraq and on the security barrier the Israeli Government is erecting.

"John Kerry has made it the rule to change his position, rather than the exception," Giuliani said.

A poll of convention delegates shows Giuliani is the man Republican activists would most like to carry the party standard in 2008.

Bush has had a small boost from a variety of polls. They suggested that the trends in important swing states may be in his favour.

A Miami Herald poll showed him ahead of Kerry in Florida, 48 per cent to 46 per cent. CNN polls put him at 51 per cent in Iowa against 45 per cent for Kerry.

And both men were tied at 47 per cent in Pennsylvania, a state that is a must-win for Democrats.

* A protest march turned ugly when a protester stomped and punched a plainclothes detective and hundreds of officers in riot gear pushed demonstrators away from the convention site.

The detective, William Sample, was briefly knocked unconscious and was hospitalised with head injuries that were not life-threatening. His assailant escaped.

As the march came within two blocks of the Garden, hundreds of police in riot gear and on horses swept in to disperse the crowd, shouting, "Move!" At least 10 people were arrested.


Tough Talk


These are the party's official positions but are not binding on the presidential candidate.

SECURITY:

Support the war in Iraq and Government anti-terrorist efforts.

Implement further biodefence tactics.

Strengthen national border control to stop illegal crossings, through better tools, technology and sufficient force.

Establish minimum safety requirements at critical infrastructure such as chemical plants.

Increase the quality and quantity of human intelligence collection and investing more in technology.

CIVIL RIGHTS:

Support a constitutional amendment that would prevent legal same-sex marriage.

Oppose abortion and support parental notification laws.

Fight the approval of judges the Republican Party calls activist to prevent rulings in areas such as same-sex marriage, abortion rights and the use of the Pledge of Allegiance.

Oppose federal licensing of gun owners and national gun registration.

Reject quotas and preferences based on skin colour, ethnicity or gender.

Further efforts to require welfare recipients to work.

Double the funding for education on abstinence as a family planning method.

Work for the return of voluntary school prayer to schools.

- AGENCIES