US Democrats nominate Kerry for president
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-07-29 12:20

US Sen. John Kerry collected the Democratic presidential nomination late Wednesday in a convention held in Boston that nurtured his political career for nearly a quarter-century.

Kerry, a four-term Massachusetts senator, was in his hotel across town when convention delegates formally bestowed the prize he won in a series of primaries and caucuses last winter and spring.

US Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., joined by fellow Vietnam veterans and crewmates, greets supporters at the Charlestown Navy Yard in Boston, during an arrival celebration Wednesday, July 28, 2004. Kerry will formally accept his party's nomination at the convention July 29. [Reuters]

The convention schedule called for him to deliver his acceptance speech Thursday evening, launching the final phase of his effort to drive President Bush from office.

Kerry's official nomination was shortly after his running mate John Edwards praised the Massachusetts senator as a decisive and battle-tested leader and urged voters to embrace the politics of hope over what he called a low-road campaign by the Republicans.

Vowing "no retreat, no surrender," Kerry swept into this convention city late Wednesday morning, surrounded by a dozen Vietnam War crewmates aboard a ship in Boston Harbor. He then yielded the spotlight to Edwards, who was his last major rival in the Democratic primary battle and the popular choice within the party to team with Kerry in the campaign ahead against President Bush and Vice President Cheney.

US Delegates celebrate after Ohio cast their votes to put John Kerry over the top with enough delegates for the Democratic presidential nomination at the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday, July 28, 2004, at the FleetCenter in Boston. [AP]

Edwards quickly showed off the rhetorical skills that carried him from the plaintiff's bench to the Senate and eventually to the thick of the Democratic race, promising that "hope is on the way" as he pledged that Kerry would keep the country safe, fix the nation's intelligence capabilities, expand access to health care, create jobs and heal the country's racial and economic divisions.

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