It's Showtime for Kerry at Boston Convention

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - It's showtime for John Kerry (news - web sites) at the Democratic convention next week, when four days of carefully choreographed image-building will introduce Americans to the White House hopeful and try to spark a bounce for him in the polls.

Kerry's prime-time, televised speech to accept the Democratic nomination to challenge President Bush (news - web sites) will be one of the 2004 campaign's crucial moments, giving him a national stage to define himself and his candidacy for voters.

The speech on July 29 caps a four-day convention that will be equal parts pep rally and infomercial. The goal, organizers said, is to showcase Kerry's life story and military service, portraying him and running mate John Edwards (news - web sites) as leaders who understand the worries of middle-class Americans.

"When we come roaring out of this convention, everybody in America will know what John Kerry and John Edwards will mean to them," Democratic National Committee (news - web sites) Chairman Terry McAuliffe said.

While the candidates have been running for years -- Kerry announced his presidential bid in December 2002 -- the national conventions are often the first time the general public tunes into the race.

Polls show many Americans are still unfamiliar with Kerry, a four-term senator from Massachusetts, decorated Vietnam War veteran and former prosecutor. Democrats say the string of events featuring his family, friends, fellow veterans and the party's brightest stars will help fill the gaps in knowledge.

"What we hope will happen ... is that people are going to get to know John Kerry much better," said Kerry pollster Mark Mellman. "They are going to get to know his values, his strength, his commitment to service."

Republicans will get their own chance to polish Bush's image at their nominating convention in New York beginning on Aug. 30. In Boston, they say, Kerry will be attempting a "public make-over" to disguise a liberal voting record.

"Kerry is going to try to introduce himself to the American people as someone in the political middle, which is a place he hasn't visited in 20 years," Bush campaign spokesman Steve Schmidt said.

The official purpose of conventions is to choose the White House ticket and adopt a platform that spells out the party's position on key issues. But with the nominations now decided early in the year by a string of state primaries, conventions have evolved in recent decades into tightly scripted political theater.

Both Kerry and Bush hope their four days in the spotlight give them a measurable surge in public approval, known as "bounce," which in the past has often meant a double-digit boost in the polls.

Bush strategist Matthew Dowd has tried to raise expectations for Kerry, predicting a 15 percentage point gain for him after the convention. Mellman played down that likelihood.

He said most candidates who earned a big boost in polls after a convention had trailed their opponent by big margins beforehand. Kerry has been tied or ahead of Bush in recent polls and already has solidified his base Democratic support.

"The electorate is so clearly divided, and the number of undecided voters is so small, I think it's unlikely that either side gets a very big convention bounce," said Karlyn Bowman, a poll analyst at the American Enterprise Institute.

The Democrats will focus on a different theme each night. Opening night spotlights Kerry's economic, health care and foreign policy proposals, the second his biography, the third his plans to make the country more secure and the fourth his acceptance speech.

While national television networks will cut back coverage to one hour a night on three nights, cable news plans exhaustive coverage. Speakers will include former Presidents Bill Clinton (news - web sites) and Jimmy Carter, Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts and Ron Reagan, son of the Republican former president.

Kerry has worked hard to head off damaging spats at the gathering of the usually fractious party. Some Democrats howled when New York Sen. Hillary Clinton (news - web sites), the former first lady, was left off the initial speakers' list. She was later added.

Democratic leaders are still working to head off labor disruptions and potential picket lines over the contract dispute between Boston police and firefighters and the city's mayor, Thomas Menino.

The 2004 DemonRATtlesnake Convention Schedule:

6:00 p.m.-Opening flag burning ceremony.
6:15 p.m.-Opening secular prayers by Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton
6:30 p.m.-Anti-war concert by Barbra Streisand.
6:40 p.m.-Ted Kennedy proposes a toast.
7:00 p.m.-Tribute theme to France.
7:10 p.m.-Collect offerings for al-Zawahri defense fund.
7:25 p.m.-tribute theme to Germany.
7:45 p.m.-Anti-war rally(moderated by Michael Moore).
8:25 p.m.-Ted Kennedy proposes a toast.
8:30 p.m-Terrorist appeasement workshop.
9:00 p.m.-Gay marriage ceremony(both male and female couples).
9:30 p.m.-*Intermission*-Special: Alec Baldwin burning his U.S. passport.
10:00p.m.-Posting the Iraqi Colors by Sean Penn and Tim Robbins.
10:10p.m.-Re-enactment of Kerry's fake medal toss.
10:20p.m.-Cameo by Dean "Yeeearrrrrg"
10:30p.m.-Abortion demonstration by N.A.R.A.L.
10:40p.m.-Ted Kennedy proposes a toast.
10:50p.m.-Pledge of allegiance to the U.N.
11:00p.m.-Multiple gay marriage ceremony(threesomes,mixed and same sex).
11:15p.m.-Maximizing Welfare workshop.
11:30p.m.-"Free Saddam" pep rally.
11:59p.m.-Ted Kennedy proposes a toast.
12:00p.m.-Nomination of democratic candidate.
12:15a.m.-Ted Kennedy proposes a toast.

Any chance we could get Ted Kennedy to drive Hillary Clinton home??

How many children did the "Children's Defense Fund" help with this? It's nothing but a play ground for liberals...

The library is the latest addition to the farm, which the Children's Defense Fund, bought from the Haley estate to use as a retreat and conference center. At its center is the barn, a 30-by-60-foot rectangle of rough-hewn lumber. The century-old building was raised high on a pair of cribs -- the cantilever style farmers use to keep hay dry during floods. ''I thought of it as a kind of living room for the farm,'' Ms. Lin said. She turned one crib into a gift shop, the other into an entry (including stairway and elevator). Once the new rooms were completed, she had the old lumber put back roughly where it had been. The juxtaposition of hand-split logs and bluish-frosted glass creates the building's most striking effect: from the outside, the glass is partly visible between the logs, while from the inside, the wood's irregular shadows mottle the translucent panes. Either way, the contrast of homespun and minimalist is mesmerizing -- picture Davy Crockett wearing Giorgio Armani.

Upstairs is a single room of about 1,200 square feet. It contains the Langston Hughes Library for African-American culture, contributed by Len and Louise Riggio, and encompasses the John Hope Franklin and Maya Angelou Reading Room and a bench called the Mrs. Rosa Parks Sitting Area.

The room's surfaces are pale maple, beige industrial carpet and brownish particleboard. It is a slick, pleasant interior, but it bears no relationship to the barn vernacular or to any of the region's other styles. If it weren't for a large, square window overlooking a man-made pond, this room could be the attic above Ms. Lin's studio in SoHo. The idea, she says, is to create a complete separation, so you experience entering the building as a peeling away of a rough outer skin. ''It's like a diamond in the rough,'' she said. ''When you cut into it, it reveals a more-polished inner self.'' Ms. Lin, in a black pantsuit and a single string of pearls, pointed to the asymmetrically placed window. ''I never do symmetry,'' she explained, ''because it's more fun to have to work everything out for yourself, like a tangram,'' the ancient Chinese puzzle. She describes the interior as both Shaker and Zen. (Not a licensed architect, Ms. Lin collaborated with a Tennessee firm, and her assistant, Stas Zakrzewski, served as go-between. ''I can't stamp the plans,'' she says, ''but I see them all.'') Ms. Lin said she wanted the architecture to be anonymous, ''a clean, well-lighted place to read a book.'' And yet outside, between the cribs, there's a cube of black marble, with water bubbling out of its top. Ms. Lin didn't just agree to place the familiar stone in the entrance court; she insisted on it. ''I knew without it there would be no proper point of arrival,'' she explained. Isn't the stone reminiscent of the monuments she wants to put behind her? ''This is a totally different granite,'' Ms. Lin answered. ''It has a splash of white running through it.'' Later, she warmed to the idea that this was her signature. ''The stone,'' Ms. Lin says, ''is a reminder I was here.''

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