John Edwards told Democratic delegates his running mate John Kerry has what it takes to be commander-in-chief in the age of terrorism.

"Decisive. Strong. Is this not what we need in a commander in chief?" the North Carolina senator said Wednesday on the third day of his party's national convention in Boston.

Those who doubted Kerry had those qualities should "just spend three minutes with the men who served with him then and who stand with him now. They saw up close what he was made of," he said of the men who served under Kerry in Vietnam.

He spoke about an incident in March 1969 in which Kerry, who commanded a Navy Swift patrol boat, saved the life of a Green Beret in the Mekong Delta.

Kerry's crewmates "saw him reach down and pull one of his men to safety and save his life. They saw him, in the heat of battle, make a decision in a split-second to turn his boat around, drive it through an enemy position and chase down the enemy to save his crew," Edwards said.

Today's soldiers in Baghdad or Fallujah "deserve a president who understands ... on the most personal level what they have gone through," he said, then talked specifically about those who were wounded or killed.

"The Stars and Stripes wave for them. The word hero was made for them. They are the best and the bravest, and they will never be left behind."

Edwards accepted his party's nomination as its vice-presidential candidate. Kerry's acceptance speech is to come Thursday.

Elizabeth Edwards described her husband as the "smartest, toughest, sweetest man I know" -- and the most optimistic. They have been married almost 27 years and have four children.

During his attempt to gain the Democratic presidential nomination, Edwards, 51, was fond of saying: "Cynics didn't build America. Optimists built America."

Besides praising Kerry, Edwards, a former trial lawyer who has been a senator since 1998, trained his rhetorical guns on their Republican adversaries.

The Republicans, he said, were trying to take "this campaign for the highest office in the land down to the lowest possible road."

In urging Americans to reject that, Edwards said, "instead you can embrace the politics of hope, the politics of what's possible because this is America, where everything is possible."

The security message

Before Edwards spoke, 12 retired U.S. Army generals appeared on the convention stage to endorse Kerry.

Polls show while Americans increasingly think the war in Iraq was a mistake, they also see U.S. President George W. Bush as a safer bet than Kerry when it comes to the so-called war on terror.

Edwards promised to keep up the  war on terrorism, telling al Qaeda: "You cannot run. You cannot hide. We will destroy you."

There was indirect criticism of the Bush administration as Edwards said: "It won't take three years to get the reports and intelligence necessary to keep the American people safe."

He promised strong international alliances and better homeland security.

Analysts say Edwards' remarks -- combined with the generals' endorsement and Kerry's arrival in Boston by boat accompanied by some of his crew members from the Vietnam War -- are designed to help persuade Americans it is safe to replace the incumbent.

Polls have the race between Bush and Kerry as either a tie or show Kerry very slightly ahead.

Two Americas

Edwards grew up poor in South Carolina, the son of a textile mill worker (his father Wallace and mother Bobbie were in the audience). But in a classic American success story, he went on to college and then earned millions as a lawyer.

As a candidate for his party's presidential nomination, he talked of "Two Americas" during the primaries -- one with good incomes, health care and education, and one without. He returned to that theme Wednesday.

"We are going to say no forever to any American working full time and living in poverty," he said, repeating three times, "not in our America."

He talked of poverty as being wrong, saying, "we have a moral responsibility to lift those families up."

He promised better schools and more accessible health care, including a "real patient's bill of rights."

There was huge applause when he promised to cancel tax cuts for companies who ship jobs off shore and to roll back Bush administration tax cuts for the wealthiest of Americans.

Edwards also talked about "the ugly face of discrimination and segregation" he witnessed while growing up as a youngster in the South.

"I've heard some discussions and debates around America about where and in front of what audiences we ought to talk about race and inequality and civil rights. I have an answer to that question: Everywhere," he declared.

"This is not an African-American issue. This is not a Latino issue. This is not an Asian-American issue. This is an American issue. It's about who we are, what our values are and what kind of country we live in," he said, to loud, sustained applause.

For those Americans who found themselves in a variety of stressful circumstances, Edwards showcased a line that the Democrats will likely return to en route to the Nov. 2 presidential vote: "Hope is on the way."