In this convention town where "9/11" is a totem or watchword with a million meanings, the site of the collapsed World Trade Center towers has become a place, in the words inscribed on the perimeter fencing, "where the world community can reflect upon and remember the events that took place here, and draw strength and inspiration."

Tourists stand silent before the open pit that has become a construction area. Others snap pictures. All the initial graffiti and handwritten messages are gone and regulations prohibit posting new ones.

Bob Lamming, a 55-year-old Vietnam combat veteran, came there Thursday to distribute 9/11 dollar bills with a smiling "corporate mouthpiece" where Washington, Lincoln or Hamilton portraits would be He was asked to reflect on the partisan display uptown at Madison Square Garden.

"All the world's a stage and all of this is just theater," said Lamming, who teaches English as a second language at a Patterson, N.J., high school.

— Bart Sullivan,

Scripps Howard News Service

Barbara Bush tells crowd she's blessed

Former first lady Barbara Bush said she was "the luckiest woman alive" in a short address to a rapturous crowd at the Republican National Convention late Thursday, shortly before her son was scheduled to speak.

Barbara Bush, who has called herself "everybody's grandmother," said she has the best husband, the best children and the "most remarkable" grandchildren.

She was speaking to a Republican National Committee interviewer from the stands at Madison Square Garden.

— Associated Press

Bennett says Bush will surprise Demos

Sen. Bob Bennett, leading a pep rally of Utahns for Bush, predicted Bush was going to surprise the Democrats with his smarts and tenacity. "He's made a career out of being misunderestimated."