BOSTON -- Democrats assailed President Bush's handling of the Iraq war Tuesday night and painted a vivid portrait of John Kerry as a decorated war hero. "He earned his medals the old-fashioned way, by putting his life on the line," Teresa Heinz Kerry told the party's national convention.

More than 900 soldiers have been killed and nearly 6,000 wounded in "this misguided war in Iraq," Sen. Edward M. Kennedy told delegates packed into the FleetCenter.

"The administration has alienated longtime allies. Instead of making America more secure, they have made us less so," he said to cheers from the assembled Democrats.

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News From The Convention:

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Article: Kerry Challenges Bush On Iraq War
Video: Clark | Albright | Cleland | Kerry
Text: Clark | Cleland | Kerry
Slideshows: Thursday Speakers | Around FleetCenter | Youth Caucus | Celebrities | Day Four On The Floor
Blog: Richardson Reports: Edwards Silences Critics
Slideshows: Wednesday Speakers | Tuesday Speakers | Monday Speakers
Wednesday Video: Sharpton | Shalikashvili | E. Edwards | J. Edwards
Tuesday Video: Kennedy | Dean | Obama | Heinz Kerry
Monday Video: Gore | Carter | Rodham Clinton | Clinton
Interactive: Schedule, Maps, and More

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Helicopters buzzed overhead and hundreds of armed security personnel patrolled the convention complex perimeter as 4,354 Democratic delegates and hundreds of alternatives filed into the hall for a second night of political oratory.

Kerry campaigned in Virginia and Pennsylvania en route to a waterborne entrance into his convention city on Wednesday. "I will and I can fight a more effective war on terror than George Bush is," he said at a Philadelphia rally.

Kerry's vice presidential running mate, Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, was already in town, anticipating his appearance before the delegates and a prime-time television audience on Wednesday night.

The Massachusetts senator is in an enviable position for a challenger, with many pre-convention polls showing him even or slightly ahead of Bush. At the same time, a new Washington Post-ABC poll underscored the challenge confronting the Democrat during his four-day convention.

More than half the voters surveyed said they knew only some or hardly at all about his positions on the issues. And after months of sustained GOP television attacks on Kerry, more than 40 percent of those polled rated the man from Massachusetts as too liberal on most issues.

The result was a Democratic convention playbook easy to discern -- skip lightly over social issues such as abortion. And present the four-term Massachusetts senator as strong on national security issues, a veteran who won medals in one war and is now, a generation later, ready to lead the country in the current one.

In the convention keynote address, Illinois State Sen. Barack Obama described Kerry as a Vietnam War hero who has long made "tough choices when easier ones were available." At the same time, he faulted the war policies of the current commander in chief without mentioning him by name.

"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," Obama said in prepared remarks.

Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota pursued the same two-pronged approach, hailing Kerry as a Vietnam veteran who showed bravery under fire while he faulted Bush's approach to national security.

"He risked his life to save the life of others, and he led his small band of brothers to safety," Daschle said of Kerry.

At the same time, he said of the Bush administration, "We reject the claim that we can't afford to provide our troops with access to affordable health care. When our soldiers do right by America, we must do right by them," according to remarks prepared for delivery.

If it was a message that Democrats wanted to convey, it was one the Republicans struggled to tarnish.

"With Sen. Kerry, we have seven different positions on his vote against the $87 billion for Iraq (and Afghanistan)," argued Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., one of several surrogates who issued a ceaseless stream of attacks against the Democratic presidential candidate.

Several of Kerry's former primary foes had their turn at the convention podium. Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, who stirred emotions early in the campaign when he vowed to represent the "Democratic wing of the Democratic Party," drew some of the loudest applause of the night.

"I was hoping for a reception like this. I was just kind of hoping it was going to be on Thursday night," he said, a reference to when Kerry delivers his acceptance speech.

In excerpts released in advance of Heinz Kerry's remarks, the senator's wife skipped the criticism of the Bush administration and focused on her husband's character.

"No one will defend this nation more vigorously than he will -- and he will always be first in the line of fire," she said.

"But he always knows the importance of getting it right," Heinz Kerry said. "For him, 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 was the point Kennedy addressed, although in a far more direct fashion.

By invading Iraq, he said, the Bush administration "made it harder to win the real war on terrorism, the war against al-Qaida. None of this had to happen."

Ron Reagan, the son of the late Republican president, held a prime speaking slot. He used it to appeal for expanded stem cell research, an approach that holds promise for treatment of diseases ranging from Parkinson's to Alzheimer's, which sent his father into a long, grim decline in the final years of his life.

"By the way, no fetal tissue is involved in this process," he said, countering criticism by abortion foes.

Democrats met while Bush was at his Texas ranch. White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan said he hadn't watched any of the opening night of the convention, and wasn't expected to tune in for the second night, either.

The evening's speaking program ran from prominent Democratic politicians to the promising.

Kennedy was the former, a 72-year-old liberal lion who has worked hard to bring the convention to his native city -- and even harder to send his junior Senate colleague to the Senate. The delegates erupted in cheers of "Teddy" when he moved to the podium, but the cheers grew louder when he mentioned the names of Kerry and Edwards.

Obama was in the latter group, the son of a goat herder from Africa and a woman from Kansas. A 42-year-old state senator, he's an overwhelming favorite to win election this fall as the third black senator since Reconstruction.

Both men accused Republicans of seeking to divide America.

"Urban against rural. City against suburb. Whites against blacks. Men against women. Straights against gays. Americans against Americans," was how the Massachusetts senator put it.

"America needs a genuine uniter, not a a divider who only claims to be a uniter," he said.

Delegates See Continuing Role For Political Conventions

They are events steeped in history and tradition, but some now question whether political conventions are necessary. The party platform is usually hammered out months in advance, and the nominee-to-be is rarely a surprise.

Still, delegates at the Democratic National Convention said they believe there is still a need for the traditional event, calling it the official kickoff to the campaign.

"It's an opportunity to introduce the candidate to the country," said Ed Espinoza, a delegate from Los Angeles. "The party can showcase its leaders."

When conventions began, the main purpose was to select a candidate for president without the benefit of state primaries. Delegates would vote for their nominee, and sometimes, multiple votes were needed. It took nine ballots for the Democrats to nominate James K. Polk in 1844.

The details of the party platform were also decided at the conventions. This was sometimes a contentious part of the process.

In 1860, delegates in Charleston, S.C., were split over the issue of slavery, with the southern delegates walking out. The Democratic convention was then moved to Baltimore.

While some delegates have differing opinions at this convention, the platform was drafted months ago, and Sen. John Kerry will receive the nomination, leaving little room for suspense.

Still, delegates said they don't think the convention is an idea whose time has past.

"Legally, it's the mechanism for ratifying the state delegates' selection," said Richard Gottfried, of New York, a member of the platform committee.

Gottfried said there could be a national primary or some other method of selecting the nominee, but it wouldn't have the same way of bringing the party together and launching the campaign.

Even if it's predictable, he said it still doesn't mean it's not necessary.

"It's like asking a couple why they need to get married," Gottfried said. "Don't they already know what's going to happen at the church?"

Delegates said the conventions get people involved more than anything else.

"It empowers people at a grassroots level," said Massachusetts State Sen. Cynthia Stone Creem. "They can feel good about the fact that they're participating in the process."

Creem said the convention is particularly important this year because of the political polarization in the country. With the narrow margin of the last election, she said it's important for Democrats to do whatever it takes to energize voters.

Monday night's events did a lot to energize delegates, with Bill Clinton bringing a fourth-night feel to the first night of the convention.

Delegates stood on their feet throughout his speech, roaring with approval at his statements of support for Kerry and criticisms of President George W. Bush.