BOSTON, July 26 (UPI) -- From early morning teleconferences to bloggers' breakfast to a veterans' caucus, Democrats declared their national convention a series of firsts, including unprecedented party unity -- before the opening gavel even struck.
Events Monday morning unofficially kicked off the 2004 Democratic National Convention, pulling together and training disparate groups of the party loyal. Official convention events, beginning with the gaveling in at 4 p.m. EDT, would focus on the party's platform, which was unanimously adopted by the platform committee several weeks ago in Miami and which -- in a first -- did not include any minority reports.
The evening events would feature the party's heavy hitters, including former Vice President Al Gore, former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, and the junior U.S. senator from New York, Hillary Clinton.
"History's on our side and momentum's on our side and we're looking forward to this," campaign spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said Monday.
The delegation to convene Monday afternoon has been described as the most diverse in party history, with four out of 10 delegates coming from communities they describe as traditionally underrepresented.
These populations were organized in a series of caucuses throughout for the day. African-Americans, Latinos, American Indians and ethnic Americans Asian Pacific Islanders caucused for the morning, while veterans and members of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community were to meet in the afternoon. Disabled Americans also were to meet Monday, which marked the 10th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The official program was to begin at 4 p.m. when Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe called the convention to order and would include approval of the delegate line-up by the Credential Committee, one of three standing convention committees.
The Credential Committee would swear in the convention's 4,353 delegates, including the Ohio native Sarah Bender, 17, as the youngest delegate and 95-year-old Eleanor Slater of Rhode Island as the oldest.
The Rules Committee also would meet, while Platform Committee Chairwoman Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut would present the party's platform to the delegates, who were scheduled to vote on it Tuesday.
More than two dozen speakers were scheduled for the afternoon session, which convention committee spokeswoman Peggy Wilhide said would focus on three main themes: a strong and respected United States; a strong and growing economy; and healthy families and a strong U.S. community.
Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack would talk about a strong the first topic, Los Angeles City Councilor Antonio Villaraigosa was scheduled to talk discuss the economy and American families and former U.S. Attorney General Bill Lann Lee would discuss the American Community, the DNC announced.
The first part of the evening schedule would include speeches by McAuliffe, Gore, Boston Mayor Tom Menino, House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland and convention Chairman Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico, who would gavel the session to order.
Sen. Barbara Mikulski, from Maryland, would be joined by the party's women senators and would speak on their behalf, while actress Glenn Close was scheduled to salute them. As part of the party's effort to pull in young Americans, Memphis native and MTV essay contest winner Michael Negron also would speak during the first evening session.
The second session, from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m., would include a moment of remembrance for the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Carter would open the session and singer Patti LaBelle would close it, while Bill Clinton would be the final speaker of the evening after receiving an introduction from his wife. Also speaking would be Reps. Stephanie Tubbs Jones of Ohio, Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin and Robert Menendez of New Jersey.
The Rev. David Alston, a crewmate of Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., during the Vietnam War, also would address the convention, building on the presidential candidate's status as a war-tested veteran.
Veterans were slated to play a large part in the convention, including the first veteran caucus which campaign liaison John Hurley described as a "homecoming" for Vietnam veterans who never previously received it.
The event, Hurley said, were a "salute to veterans, just to say thank you for your service, thank you for doing your duty." Former presidential candidate and retired Gen. Wesley Clark was a keynote speaker at the kick-off caucus, while a reception was planned for later in the evening.
Interspersed among the evening sessions would be satellite feeds from Canton, Ohio; Little Rock, Ark.; Los Angeles and Milwaukee that the DNC said would give average Americans a chance to take part in the convention.
For the campaign itself, Cutter, the convention gave them a chance to introduce Kerry to the world at large.
"We'll tell everyone who John Kerry is, where he comes from and what he believes in. Then we'll go on and explain to people how Jon Kerry and John Edwards' priorities are connected to these values," Cutter said.
Republicans have sought to portray Kerry and Edwards' policies as far left of the country at large and the Democratic Party specifically, charges the campaign has worked to dispel over the past few months.
Monday's speakers would discuss the specific agenda of the campaign, Cutter said, but would likely do so among some of the lightest coverage in convention history. The major U.S. networks had dedicated one hour of coverage for Boston's events. Wilhide, however, asserted that polls showed strong interest by the U.S. public, and said the convention was credentialing alternative sources of coverage, including bloggers and several cable TV channels, to augment more traditional coverage.
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