Former presidents, Gore to kick off convention
Democrats aim to present positive message, skip Bush bashing
 |  Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter and Al Gore are scheduled to speak Monday at the Democratic National Convention. |
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 VIDEO |
 CNN's Bill Hemmer talks with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.
 CNN's Dan Lothian on protesters at the convention site.
 CNN's Daniel Sieberg on the political "blogosphere."
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| MAKING THEIR CASE |  Day One: Monday
• Theme: "The Kerry-Edwards Plan for America's Future"
• 4 p.m. ET: Convention called to order by Terry McAuliffe
• 7-9 p.m. ET: Speakers include Bill Richardson, Al Gore, Glenn Close, Barbara Mikulski
• 9-10 p.m. ET: Speakers include Jimmy Carter, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton
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BOSTON, Massachusetts (CNN) -- The opening night of the 2004 Democratic National Convention will take on a presidential theme Monday as former Presidents Clinton and Carter and former Vice President Al Gore prepare to take the stage.
Thousands of party delegates have converged on Boston's FleetCenter to crown the presumptive Democratic presidential and vice presidential ticket, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts and Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina.
By early Monday, people already were beginning to wander around the interior of the convention site.
Tall, blue signs marking seat locations for each state's delegates dotted the convention floor and lights glared from television crews covering the event.
Merle Lustig, a delegate from Phoenix, Arizona, said she holds no illusions about the campaign ahead.
"We live in a state that's very Republican," said Lustig, 54. "We know what we're up against."
Smiling, she added: "I love a good fight."
Official convention events are set to begin at 4 p.m. ET Monday when Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe calls the gathering to order.
Kerry is not scheduled to appear until Thursday when he will accept the nomination and deliver his address to the convention.
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said one goal of the convention is to introduce Kerry to the nation.
"Our objective is to show the personal side of Sen. Kerry -- his character, his Vietnam service, his leadership qualities," Richardson said Monday.
"Our theme is, 'Respected abroad, strong at home.' What do we mean by that? Basically that we want a strong emphasis on affordable health care and education, safer at home, positive themes. And respected abroad -- a foreign policy with alliances."
Clinton will be introduced by his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who was added to the program after supporters complained she wasn't on the initial roster of speakers.
"I am so excited about replacing this administration," the junior senator from New York said Monday during an interview at CNN's anchor desk on the convention floor.
"You know, I think that the Bush-Cheney presidency has been bad for America and bad for the world. I cannot wait to see them leave the White House, the sooner the better. I wish we could move the inauguration up a few months."
Former President Clinton, speaking at a book signing Sunday, said he would tell the American people that the Democratic policies of the 1990s worked better than the Republican policies of the 1980s and those pursued since 2001 by President Bush.
"We tried their way for 12 years, our way for eight years, and they had four more years. Our way works better," he said. "Sen. Kerry just needs to go out there and say, 'Look, here are my ideas; we now have a lot of evidence that their way does not work as well as our way does.' "
The party is telling members to tone down the Bush-bashing rhetoric and to focus on the positive, according to Richardson.
"So what we want to do is send a message that the Democrats and Sen. Kerry are positive -- that we're going to talk about what we're going to do on the economy, on health care, on foreign policy, on national security and not make this into a big bashing of the president," Richardson said.
"There will be some of that -- obviously -- because you've got a lot of speakers, diverse speakers -- you've got all of the wings of the party here."
As for the Republicans, they've sent a team of policy experts to Boston to monitor the convention and respond to the Democrats. (The Republican National Convention is set to begin August 30 in New York's Madison Square Garden.)
"We're behind enemy lines, and we're well aware of that fact," Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie told The Associated Press. "But we can't allow baseless charges to go unanswered."
A dozen staffers in the GOP office looked over computers and read the morning headlines Monday. During an interview with a Nashville, Tennessee, radio station talking about Kerry's Senate votes on Iraq, Gillespie said, "This is a classic example of Sen. Kerry trying to escape his 20-year record."
Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, set to address the convention on Tuesday night, said Kerry's Thursday speech would be a message of hope aimed at offsetting Republican untruths about the Democratic challenger.
"You know it's kind of interesting, our Republican friends have spent $80 million to distort, misrepresent and basically lie about John Kerry's record," Kennedy said. "That's because they haven't got a record of their own."
In addition, amid recent Republican attempts to pass legislation to prohibit same-sex marriages, Rep. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, an openly lesbian member of the House, will be one of Monday's speakers. Baldwin is expected to discuss health-care issues.
CNN's Phil Hirschkorn contributed to this report.
Copyright 2004 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
