MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

“I'm John Kerry and I'm reporting for duty.”

John Kerry on Thursday night presented himself as a future president of strength, faith and optimism, claiming on behalf of the Democratic Party the same values championed by the Republicans as he accepted his party's nomination for president.

Flanked by his former crewmates from the Vietnam war, Mr. Kerry promised to protect the US from the terrorist threat. "I will immediately reform the intelligence system so policy is guided by facts and facts are never distorted by politics," he said. "As president, I will ask hard questions and demand hard evidence."

Mr. Kerry offered a subtle rebuke to President George W. Bush's patchy military record, contrasting it with his own time in combat. "I'm John Kerry," he said, when he took to the podium and, then, saluting to the cheers of the crowd, added: "and I'm reporting for duty."

Mr. Kerry then made a bold grab for the middle ground of American politics, borrowing from the language of former two-term Republican president Ronald Reagan in pledging to lead a strong, united America, and reminding its citizens that "out best days are still to come."

Reinforcing the positive theme that the Kerry campaign has sought to make the leitmotif of the week, Mr. Kerry said: "We can do better and we will. We're the optimists."

He also sought to banish the perception of a squeamish Democratic party: "I defended this country as a young man and I will defend it as president. Let there be no mistake: I will never hesitate to use force when it is required."

With the Democratic convention behind him, Mr. Kerry's monopoly of the limelight comes to an end today. After a week's holiday on his ranch in Crawford, Texas, Mr. Bush returns to the campaign trail on Friday in the three most fiercely-fought states of the Midwest - Michigan, Missouri and Ohio.

Mr. Kerry was welcomed onto the stage, after the delegates in Boston were treated to a glowing nine-minute video tribute tracing his story from childhood, his time as a student at Yale University, his command of a Swift Boat on the Mekong Delta and term as a US senator.

An even more personal and intimate testimonial was given by his two daughters, Alexandra and Vanessa, who extolled their father's family values - including the time he rescued the family hamster from drowning.

The Band of Brothers - the name given to Mr. Kerry's Vietnam war crewmates - lined up to herald Mr. Kerry onto the stage. Max Cleland, the former Georgia senator who lost three limbs in Vietnam, introduced the Massachusetts senator.

Mr. Kerry made a point both of introducing his personal story to the audience, including details of his parents' past and his personal values, but also sought to give a laundry list of policy proposals of a future Kerry administration.

He reprised many of the themes and much of the phrasing, which has featured in stump speeches across the country for months. He set out his healthcare plans, emphasised the need to halt the exodus of US jobs overseas and, to rapturous applause, promised that he would not appoint an attorney-general with a disregard for the US constitution.

"There is nothing more pessimistic than saying America cannot do better," Mr Kerry said, as part of a speech intended to emphasise optimism and unity in America. Still, Mr. Kerry criticised into Mr. Bush repeatedly for misleading the American people over Iraq: "Saying there were weapons of mass destruction doesn't make it so."

In the tradition of the barnstorming Clinton/Gore trip after the 1992 Democratic convention, Mr. Kerry heads out on Friday with his vice-presidential running mate, John Edwards, taking his message of strong leadership from the national stage to the battleground states that will decide the 2004 election.

They will hit the stump together in rallies in New York, Connecticut and Pennsylvania on Friday. They will then tour other swing states before Mr. Edwards branches off to make the Democratic case in Florida on Sunday night and Mr. Kerry heads for the industrial heartland of Michigan and Missouri.

Campaign managers say Mr. Kerry is the first candidate to travel uninterrupted by land from the Atlantic to the Pacific coasts since Harry Truman made his whistle-stop tour in 1948. The itinerary shows the Kerry campaign focusing on those battleground states that Mr. Bush won in 2000 but now seem to be wavering in their support for the president.

Mr. Bush has allowed the Democratic challenger to monopolise the limelight over the past week. But after a week's holiday Mr. Bush returns to the campaign trail in the industrial Midwest as he works up towards the Republican national convention in New York in late August.