His wife, Michelle, will give the keynote speech Monday night. A video tribute to ailing Sen. Ted Kennedy could provide an emotional moment.
Other speakers include Sens. Claire McCaskill and Amy Klobuchar and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Caroline Kennedy will introduce the tribute to her uncle.
Outside the convention, the police presence was tremendous Monday. Officers were wearing riot gear and the Pepsi Center was ringed by concrete barriers and tall, wire fences.
Daily anti-war demonstrations are planned. The first drew about 1,000 people and some have been arrested.
National Republicans have set up a "war room" in Denver, less than a mile from the convention hall. It will be making top Republicans such as Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney available for press conferences and satellite interviews. A key target is local media in swing states.
The message is that Obama is a celebrity not qualified for the White House.
As a senior McCain campaign adviser puts it: "You can't expect people to cover you if you don't show up."
With thousands of reporters in Denver, Republicans anticipate plenty of demand for an alternative to the carefully choreographed narrative from the Democrats.
Delegates Could Still Pledge To Clinton
Some of Hillary Clinton's delegates at the Democratic convention said they're still voting for her even if she releases them to Barack Obama.
Clinton has invited her pledged delegates to a Wednesday reception in Denver to encourage them to support and work for Obama.
But Pam Durham of Fort Worth, Texas, said she has a responsibility to represent the voters who sent her to Denver. And that means a vote for Clinton.
A Clinton delegate from Colorado, Daniel Kagan, said he'll vote for Obama in November but won't be volunteering for the campaign.
He said he will be "weakly" behind an Obama-Biden ticket.
More than 100 Clinton supporters gathered at a party Sunday night to view a documentary highlighting what it called irregularities in caucuses won by Obama.
Obama has said he hopes the four-day event will sway reluctant middle-class voters his way.
Obama campaigned in the swing state of Wisconsin on Sunday before flying home to Chicago to work on the acceptance speech he'll deliver Thursday night. At one stop, he told voters he and they have much in common: middle-class roots, attending school on scholarship, figuring out child care and starting college funds for children.
Democrats are hoping the convention will represent a coming together after the bruising primaries. They've printed up thousands of blue signs with the single word "Unity."
By unanimous vote Sunday, the party's credentials committee restored full voting rights to delegations from Florida and Michigan. Those two states were stripped of their voting rights earlier in the year for holding their primaries early in defiance of party rules.
Posted By: The SISTAHS Ministry
Monday, August 25th 2008 at 9:22AM
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