Clinton takes spotlight at Democratic convention

Hillary Clinton was expected to address the Democratic convention early this morning in a speech designed to mend a lingering party rift and persuade her die-hard supporters to get behind Barack Obama's White House bid.

Mr Obama hopes her high-profile appearance can begin to heal the wounds of a bruising nominating battle and win over intransigent Mrs Clinton supporters still angry over his triumph and his choice of Joe Biden over her for his running mate.

The drama cast a shadow over Monday's opening day of the convention to crown Mr Obama, 47, a first-term Illinois senator, as the party's leader and presidential candidate in the November 4 election battle with Republican John McCain.

Mr Obama had tried to ease the tension by giving Mrs Clinton, a New York senator, and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, major roles at the convention. Bill Clinton will address the Democrats today.

"There are going to be some of Senator Clinton's supporters who we're going to have to work hard to persuade to come on board. That's not surprising," Mr Obama told reporters on Monday.

"But if you take a look, I think, at this week, I am absolutely convinced that both Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton understand the stakes."

Mrs Clinton will be symbolically nominated for President today, although she is expected to release her delegates to Mr Obama after a roll call vote is called and Mr Obama would be nominated by acclamation under a deal between the two camps.

An opinion poll showed how much work remains for Mr Obama. A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll said he and Mr McCain were running even at 47 per cent - but only 66 per cent of Mrs Clinton supporters backed Mr Obama, down from 75 per cent at the end of June.

Twenty-seven per cent of Mrs Clinton supporters said they would support Mr McCain, up from 16 per cent in late June.

Republicans hammered on their line that Mr Obama, a one-term member of the US Senate, was too inexperienced to take on the presidency and said the first day of the Democratic convention had not helped him counter that charge.

On opening day, speakers sought to introduce Mr Obama to Americans and familiarise them with his life story as the son of a black father from Kenya and a white mother from Kansas. He was raised in Hawaii and Indonesia and worked after college as a community organiser in Chicago.

"He was raised by grandparents who were working class folks just like my parents, and by a single mother who struggled to pay the bills just like we did," said Mr Obama's wife, Michelle, who closed the opening night session.

"I come here as a wife who loves my husband and believes he will be an extraordinary President. I come here as a mom whose girls are the heart of my heart and the centre of my world," she said.

The emotional highlight of the night was an appearance by ailing party legend Senator Edward Kennedy, diagnosed with brain cancer in May, who spoke to the convention after a video tribute.

"This November the torch will be passed again to a new generation of Americans," Mr Kennedy said, borrowing from the 1961 presidential inaugural speech of his slain brother John Kennedy.

"The work begins anew. The hope rises again and the dream lives on," Mr Kennedy said, echoing his famous 1980 convention speech after losing to Jimmy Carter. At that time he said: "The dream shall never die".

The second night of the convention was to focus on economic themes and begin to lay out some of Mr Obama's proposals to aid lower- and middle-class voters suffering in a faltering US economy, which polls show is the top issue.

The convention's keynote speaker, filling the role that shot Mr Obama to political fame at the Democratic convention in Boston in 2004, will be former Virginia Governor Mark Warner.

Mr Warner, favoured to win his race for the US Senate this year, plans to highlight economic initiatives in Virginia that helped him win over rural voters in normally Republican areas.

Mrs Clinton, who is expected to urge her delegates to back Mr Obama, will be introduced by her daughter Chelsea. She got an early start on pushing party unity at an appearance before New York delegates on Monday - although she acknowledged the difficulty in bringing everyone in line.

"We are after all Democrats, so it may take a while," she said. "We're not the fall-in-line party. We are diverse. But make no mistake, we are unified."

Authorities played down an incident involving the arrest of three men with guns in the city of Aurora, east of Denver, on Sunday which prompted local media reports of a threat against Mr Obama. "We're absolutely confident there is no credible threat to the candidate, the Democratic National Convention, or the people of Colorado," a statement from the US Attorney in Colorado said.