Tensions escalate as the US election day approaches

Republicans opened their convention by invoking the memory of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks - the World Trade Center stood about four miles south of Madison Square Garden - as a test of President Bush's mettle as a strong and decisive leader.

Since September 11th President Bush has remained rock solid," former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said Monday, likening the president to Winston Churchill and Ronald Reagan. "We need George Bush more than ever."

That prompted Democratic Party chief Terry McAuliffe to recall "a certain Churchill quote that, after the last four years, certainly applies to George Bush: `He's a humble man with much to be humble about.'"

Democrats and some Sept. 11 victims say Republicans are politicizing a national tragedy. Giuliani denied that, saying Democrats made frequent mention of Sept. 11 at their convention last month in Boston. He said if Republicans did not cite Bush's response to the tragedy it would be like President Abraham Lincoln not mentioning the Civil War when he ran for re-election in 1864, reports Assosiated Press.

According to AFP California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Laura Bush will take centre stage on the first full day of the Republican national convention aimed at securing vital public support for President George W. Bush. Schwarzenegger will make his national political debut when he speaks to the 4,800 delegates on Tuesday evening as one of the star attractions at the convention.

His speech will be among the most closely-watched of the event and is designed to reel liberal voters and fans into the party ahead of the November 2 polls.

Laura Bush will also be closely watched ahead of the president's appearance at the convention on Thursday.

"I want to tell people what I have seen in the private moments, because I have had a different vantage point than anybody else," she said in an interview with NBC on Tuesday.

Patrick C. Guerriero was standing in the shade beside the MSNBC stage in Herald Square yesterday morning, trying to keep from sweating. The executive director of the Log Cabin Republicans was made-up, camera-ready, and a little edgy.

Guerriero and his members are angry about Bush's endorsement of a federal constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage in February and incensed over a GOP platform that not only supports the amendment, but seems to preclude civil unions and domestic partnership benefits. They are angry that such moderates as Governor George E. Pataki of New York and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, showcased as prime-time speakers at the convention, appear to have no influence over the party's official positions on abortion and gay marriage, informs The Boston Globe.