And in New York, retired Air Force Chief of Staff Merrill McPeak, during a news conference hosted by the Democratic Party's GOP convention response team, said Kerry "knows how to win the war on terror" if Bush does not. He said Kerry would use America's economic power as well as its military arsenal to defeat terrorism.

McPeak said the Bush administration, through miscalculations about Iraq and the war on terror and his "go-it-alone" approach to foreign policy, has "forfeited its legitimacy" in the conflict.

But the GOP convention opened with praise of Bush's efforts.

"We are confronting the forces of tyranny and terrorism to make our own nation safer and bring peace to people across the globe," Marc Racicot, chairman of the Bush re-election campaign told delegates in remarks in which he called Bush "one of the greatest leaders our nation has ever known."

In Nashua, N.H., on Monday, Bush told supporters that the convention was getting under way "with positive speeches."

"It's going to be a positive experience for the people of this country to see what we believe. I talked to the vice president this morning. He's getting ready to crank it up," Bush said.

Monday evening, Bush spoke at a rally in a park in suburban Detroit.

On Tuesday, Bush will speak to an American Legion convention in Nashville and campaign in Iowa and Pennsylvania. He arrives in New York Wednesday night for his Thursday night acceptance speech, after which he will return to the campaign trail.