Post-Convention Push Underway

"No wonder they call this 'The Electric City,' " Kerry said, beaming, as he looked up and down a street jammed with supporters waving American flags, red, white and blue pompons and holding up placards of support. The crowd filled the openings of a local parking garage and looked out from windows in the federal building across from the courthouse where the rally was staged.

As he did in his acceptance speech Thursday night, Kerry hit hard on the theme of values and on the attacks by his opponents. Saying that values are more than slogans, he said, "We're both so tired, as you are, of politicians who run around and they throw this pablum at you, and you get these 30-second negative advertisements and these one-minute negative advertisements, everybody trying to destroy each other when we're trying to build up the United States of America."

The Democrats got an early start after a late night of speeches and celebration, kicking off their post-convention tour with an outdoor rally near Boston's FleetCenter.

"We're going to restore trust and credibility to the White House," Kerry told several hundred supporters as he launched what the campaign has dubbed its "Believe in America" tour. Reprising another line from his acceptance speech, Kerry said, "Help is on the way for the average person."

Standing in the shadow of Bunker Hill and the Old North Church that figured so prominently in the American Revolution, Kerry summoned up the patriots whom he said had risked everything to build the country. Then, in a reference to the lanterns that set Paul Revere off on his famous ride, Kerry joked, "They had better intelligence back then than we do today."

Kerry and Edwards were joined by their wives and families, as well as by Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino and actor Ben Affleck, a Bostonian who was so ubiquitous at convention events that Kerry joked, "Between the two of us, John Edwards and I decided Ben Affleck had about four more hours of TV than we did."

Among those in the audience was Norman Conklin, 72, a Korean War veteran from Boston, who said he thought that Kerry, through his convention speech, had reached veterans with his strong statement of support for veterans benefits and his own experiences in Vietnam.

But Conklin said he hopes Kerry could recapture some of his campaign style from the Iowa caucuses. "I think he loosened up during Iowa -- and then after he won the nomination, he got uptight again," Conklin said. "I think now he is starting to get relaxed. That's what people need to see."

Staff writers Howard Kurtz in Washington and Mike Allen, traveling with Bush, contributed to this report.