John Beale, Post-Gazette Teresa Heinz Kerry told Democratic National Convention delegates last night that her husband would be a strong president. Click photo for larger image.

Heinz Kerry tells crowd at convention her husband is a 'fighter'

By Ann McFeatters, Post-Gazette National Bureau

BOSTON -- John Edwards, the boyish-looking, charismatic one-term junior senator from North Carolina picked by Sen. John Kerry to be his running mate, takes center stage at the Democratic Convention tonight at a session with the theme of "a stronger, more secure America."

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Edwards, a fiery trial lawyer who has made millions of dollars in personal injury cases, has been tasked with firing up the 4,350 delegates and 15,000 guests with a speech emphasizing Kerry's "optimistic" domestic agenda. He will be introduced by his daughter, Cate, a recent Princeton University graduate, and his wife Elizabeth, a lawyer, volunteer and mother of two other young children. Unlike the speech by Kerry's wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, last night, the four major TV networks have pledged to carry Edwards' speech live at 10 p.m.

Other speakers on the crowded dais tonight will be former astronaut and Ohio senator John Glenn, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, New York activist and former presidential candidate Al Sharpton and Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm. The music finale will be the Black Eyed Peas.

Last night belonged to Heinz Kerry, who courted the audience with a soft-spoken but sly comment about her outspokenness and a moving account of growing up in what was then the dictatorship of Mozambique, where her father, a doctor, could not vote until he was 73.

She touted her husband as a "fighter," a Vietnam War hero who would be a great president and strong world leader.

"No one will defend this nation more vigorously than he will -- and he will always be first in the line of fire," Heinz Kerry told a packed FleetCenter of cheering delegates.

"He earned his medals the old-fashioned way, by putting his life on the line for his country," she said, thumping the lectern. "And no one will defend this nation more vigorously than he will -- and he will always, always be first in the line of fire."

Democratic officials said that the key word they wanted to convey last night was "strength." New polls show that while Kerry is running neck-and-neck with President Bush overall, there is substantial concern among likely voters about whether Kerry is "strong" enough to lead the country during a war in Iraq and a war against terrorism.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., drew applause from the packed arena last night when he thundered, "John (Kerry) is a war hero who understands that America's strength comes from many sources, especially the power of our ideas. He knows that a true leader inspires hope and vanquishes fear."

Teresa Heinz Kerry's son, Christopher Heinz, whose father was the Republican senator from Pittsburgh, John Heinz, who died in a plane crash while campaigning for re-election, called his mother a visionary. He recalled that when her husband died, she was asked to run for his seat. But she decided to devote her life to philanthropic work. "My mother is a force -- spiritual, organic, loving, smart, funny, wise." He added that if he "looks that good at 65, I'll be doubly blessed. Mom I love you."

With her hands on her heart, wearing a bright red suit, she seemed overcome for a moment. "By now I hope it should come as no surprise that I have something to say," she said, delighting the crowd.

"I have a very personal feeling about how special America is," she said. "My right to speak my mind, to have a voice, to be what some have called 'opinionated' is a right I deeply and profoundly cherish."

She drew loud applause when she said she hopes for the day when "women are not called 'opinionated' but smart and well informed just like men."

An active feminist, environmentalist and internationalist, Heinz Kerry said she wanted to honor her own mother for her "warmth, generosity, wisdom and hopefulness and thank her for all the sacrifices she made on our behalf -- like so many other mothers." In turn, she said, "I want to acknowledge and honor the women of this world, whose wise voices for much too long have been excluded and discounted. It is time for the world to hear women's voices -- in full and at last."

	Gerald Herbert, Associated Press Democratic Presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry watches his wife Teresa Heinz speak at the Democratic National Convention in his Philadelphia hotel room last night with campaign trip director Setti Warren. Click photo for larger image.

A staunch opponent of what she believes are the excesses of the Patriot Act on civil liberties, Heinz Kerry said that for her husband, the names of too many friends inscribed in the cold stone of the Vietnam Memorial testify to the awful toll exacted by leaders who mistake stubbornness for strength. That is why, as president, my husband will not fear disagreement or dissent. He believes that our voices -- yours and mine -- must be the voices of freedom. And if we do not speak, neither does she. In America, the true patriots are those who dare speak truth to power."

Last night was also a night for mending fences. Howard Dean, the former governor of Vermont who once seemed close to toppling Kerry's dreams of snaring the nomination and bitterly criticized Kerry's vote in favor of the war in Iraq, was introduced as "the man who energized our party." He was greeted with sustained cheering. Dean joked he was hoping for a reception like that but had hoped it would be on Thursday night, when the acceptance speech is given.

Nonetheless, Dean said, the disputes of the primaries are over. "I may not be the nominee, but I can tell you this: For the next hundred days, I'll be doing everything I can to make sure that John Kerry and John Edwards take our country back for the people who built it."

After he spoke, delegates gyrated to the de facto theme song of the convention, "We Are Family."

The keynote speaker of the convention was one of the party's new stars, Barack Obama, a 42-year-old state senator from Illinois who is running for the U.S. Senate. If he wins, he would be the only black senator.

Obama also attacked the conduct of the war in Iraq, to a burst of applause. "When we send our young men and women into harm's way, we have a solemn obligation not to fudge the numbers or shade the truth about why they're going, to care for their families while they're gone, to tend to the soldiers upon their return and to never, ever go to war without enough troops to win the war, secure the peace and earn the respect of the world."

As Monday was a salute to the Clinton era, last night was another walk down nostalgia lane, with a tribute to Kennedy, the party's warhorse liberal whose hometown of Boston is the host to its very first political convention at the FleetCenter. He was introduced by presidential historian Robert Caro, who equated Kennedy with such great senators of the past as Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun and Charles Sumner.

	Jeremy Wadsworth, Block News Alliance Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., talks to the convention yesterday afternoon. Click photo for larger image.

In his speech last night, Kennedy assured his audience immediately that he is not retiring. "I intend to stay in this job until I get the hang of it," he vowed.

He said that in Iraq, America failed to honor the phrase in the Declaration of Independence, "a decent respect to the opinions of mankind." In a stinging attack on Bush's foreign policies, Kennedy said, "The administration has alienated long-time allies. Instead of making America more secure, they have made us less so. They have made it harder to win the real war on terrorism, the war against al-Qaida. None of this had to happen."

Picking up on Franklin Roosevelt's admonition that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself, Kennedy said, "Today, we say the only thing we have to fear is four more years of George Bush."

One face on the podium that may have surprised some Americans was Ron Reagan, son of the former Republican president. He has made no secret of his disagreements with Bush, especially over the issue of stem cell research. He galvanized the crowd with his argument that stem cells from embryos could be instrumental in finding a cure for Alzheimer's diseases, which plagued his recently deceased father. Arguing that stem cell research has nothing to do with abortion, he said, "No fetal tissue is involved in this process. No fetuses are created, none destroyed."

He did not talk about Kerry but said, "Come November, cast your vote for embryonic stem cell research." As for those who oppose such research, he said, "Shame on you."