WASHINGTON — As Democrats gather next week for the country's first presidential nominating convention since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the proceedings will bear the unmistakable imprint of the calamity that killed thousands of Americans -- and reshaped the political landscape.
With the nation still on edge about terrorism, Democrats in Boston will adopt a platform that places more emphasis on military and security issues than at any time since the height of the Cold War.
The convention's program will turn klieg lights on the military credentials of Sen. John F. Kerry, the party's presumed presidential nominee, who will be introduced by a fellow Vietnam War hero.
An obscure congressional candidate fresh from a military career will get a prime speaking slot. And the official theme of the convention is an obvious bow to post-9/11 anxieties: "Stronger at Home, Respected in the World."
On a more basic level, conventioneers will be repeatedly reminded that they are meeting in a world transformed since the party met in Los Angeles four years ago. Boston will be taut with security precautions unmatched in the annals of U.S. political conventions.
Republicans also will meet in the shadow of Sept. 11 when they begin their convention next month in New York -- a Democratic-dominated city apparently chosen for being the site of the World Trade Center buildings that collapsed into smoking rubble almost three years ago.
Bush's entire presidency was redefined by that attack on New York and the Pentagon, giving him a huge boost in public esteem in the immediate aftermath. But now that the conflict in Iraq has eroded Bush's standing in the polls, the GOP convention also is expected to put unusually heavy emphasis on defense and foreign policy to remind voters of the more popular parts of his anti-terrorism record.
Still, the political imperative to address voters' national security concerns is particularly challenging for Democrats because traditionally they have been viewed as stronger on domestic policy leadership than on defense and foreign policy.
Republicans dismiss Democrats' expected muscle-flexing on national security at the Boston convention as a transparent effort to obscure what they call Kerry's anti-military record, including his vote against the $87 billion Congress provided in 2003 for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
