LIVE THREAD: DNC Convention

4:00 pm Call to Order
The Honorable Bill Richardson
Governor of New Mexico
Permanent Chair, Democratic National Convention

Invocation
The Reverend Ernest "Gunny" Branch
Sermon on the Mount, Baptist Church, Roxbury, Massachusetts

National Anthem
Jim Garrity
President, Local Firefighters Union 1691
Boston, Massachusetts

Platform Approval

Representative Robert Matsui
U.S. House of Representatives, California

The Honorable Allyson Schwartz
Pennsylvania State Senate
Candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives, Pennsylvania

Patty Wetterling
Candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives, Minnesota

Elizabeth Cavendish
Interim President, NARAL Pro-Choice America

The Honorable Linda Sanchez
U.S. House of Representatives, California

The Honorable Nita Lowey
U.S. House of Representatives, New York

The Honorable Nancy Farmer
Treasurer of Missouri
Candidate for the United States Senate, Missouri

The Honorable Joe Manchin III
Secretary of State, West Virginia
Candidate for Governor, West Virginia

7:00 pm Gavel In by "Gavel In" Contest Winners
Kristen Turner, age 13, Boston, Massachusetts
Steven Ruperto, age 18, Moon, Pennsylvania

Kids for Kerry
Representatives from Kids for Kerry, Boston chapter
Nubia Smith Whitaker, age 12, will speak on their behalf

Tribute to Fannie Lou Hamer
Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee
Actors

The Honorable Bennie Thompson
U.S. House of Representatives, Mississippi

Dr. Maya Angelou
Poet and Activist

Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party Members

The Reverend Dr. James Forbes
Senior Minister, Riverside Church, New York, New York

Gavel to Order
The Honorable Jeanne Shaheen
Former Governor of New Hampshire

National Anthem via satellite from the Tohono O'odham Nation, Arizona
Michael Enis and Alicia Chiles
The anthem will be sung in the traditional Tohono O'odham language

The Honorable Edward Kennedy
United States Senator, Massachusetts
Honorary Chair, Democratic National Committee

The Honorable Tom Daschle
United States Senate, South Dakota
Democratic Leader

Satellite feed from Des Moines, Iowa

The Honorable Carol Mosley-Braun
Former United States Senator, Illinois

9:00 pm to 11:00 pm

Keynote Speaker
Barack Obama
Candidate for the United States Senate, Illinois

The Honorable Jim Langevin
U.S. House of Representatives, Rhode Island

Ron Reagan

Benediction
Imam Yahya Hendi
Muslim Chaplin, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.

Republicans Poke Fun at Kerry's NASA Garb

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=694&ncid=703&e=7&u=/ap/20040728/ap_on_el_pr/cvn_loyal_opposition

By WILL LESTER, Associated Press Writer

BOSTON - Republicans ridiculed John Kerry (news - web sites) on Tuesday for his shifting position on the war in Iraq (news - web sites), and for a photo released by NASA (news - web sites) showing the Democratic presidential candidate crawling out of a space shuttle dressed in a

The Republicans also have put together an 11-minute video capturing Kerry's shifting stance on Iraq over the last three years, using his own words that gradually shift from harsh anti-Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) rhetoric in 2001 and 2002 to more cautious comments about Iraq in late 2003 and anti-war comments by early 2004.

Republicans plan to publicly unveil the video Wednesday morning and send it to about 8 million supporters. GOP officials are pondering how to make the video, produced by Laura Crawford of the Texas firm Crawford Creative, available to the general public.

"We've all reached a judgment the United States has to protect its interests," Kerry says on one talk show in early 2002. Saddam "may even slide these weapons off to terrorist groups,it's the miscalculation that poses the greatest threat," he says on a September 2002 talk show.

Through 2003 and early 2004, Kerry became more cautious and talked against the war, as problems grew in Iraq and his campaign against anti-war candidate Howard Dean (news - web sites) became more intense.

"There's no question that comments here or there, taken out of context and thrown together, are intended by Republicans to try to simplify or dumb down a crucial issue of war and peace into a simple yes-no question," said James Rubin, a senior foreign policy adviser to the Kerry campaign.

The photo of Kerry in the anti-contamination suit evoked memories of an ad showing 1988 Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis riding in a tank while wearing a helmet.

At the time, Republican strategists for President Bush (news - web sites)'s father compared the governor in the tank helmet to "Rocky the Flying Squirrel. That image was widely replayed as Republicans pummeled Dukakis for supposedly having "liberal" policies. Dukakis was soundly beaten by President Bush's father.

Asked the significance of the photo of Kerry in the anti-contamination suit, Republican chairman Ed Gillespie smiled broadly and said, "We just thought it was a great photo."

The Boston Herald splashed the unusual photo across its front page Tuesday with the headline: "Boston, we've got a problem." The headline was a spoof of the famous astronaut's quote about the endangered Apollo 13 mission to the moon: "Houston, we've had a problem."

Dukakis, a professor at Northeastern University in Boston, dismissed a question Tuesday night about whether John Kerry made an image goof when he donned the clean environment suit during a visit to NASA in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Monday.

"That's utter foolishness," Dukakis said as he and wife Kitty greeted people on the Boston Common. "I don't even know why you guys are spending any time on this. This is a serious election about a president."

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On the Net:

Republican National Committee (news - web sites): http://www.rnc.org

John Kerry campaign: http://www.johnkerry.com

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