GOP not impressed with Democratic opener

ATLANTA, Aug. 26 (UPI) -- A top aide to John McCain says the presumptive Republican Party nominee for president lost no ground to Democrats in the opening day of their convention.

"This is a big choice for the American people and they're really going to have to rely on more than a few convention speeches," McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds told CNN.

Bounds conceded U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy's speech was "moving" while he found Michelle Obama's speech "impressive."

Kennedy, D-Mass., who is recovering from surgery for a brain tumor, and Obama, spoke Monday night while Obama's husband, presumptive Democratic Party nominee for president Barack Obama watched the speeches from Kansas City, Mo.

Barack Obama is to arrive in Denver later this week after campaign stops through the western states.

On CNN's "Larry King Live," U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., said the opening speeches said nothing new about the Democratic Party and their call for change.

"I felt like I was hearing the same rhetoric that I'd been hearing since the '60s, when I started listening to and following political conventions," Blackburn told King.