by Marc Carnegie
BOSTON, Massachusetts, July 26 (AFP) - This was supposed to be the week of glory for US Democrats, when the media spotlight shines on the four-day convention that will crown John Kerry as their hope to win the White House.
It`s just that someone forgot to tell the Republicans.
In the middle of a political dogfight for the most powerful office in the world, the Republicans have launched a 24-hour "war room" on the doorstep of the Democratic convention, ready to fight fire with fire.
"We`re not foolish enough to think we can compete with the 15,000 media covering the convention," Jim Dyke, the Republican party`s communications chief, told AFP. "But we think we`ve got an opportunity to make our case."
Around 30 staffers and a gaggle of freshly scrubbed young volunteers have transformed two floors of a non-descript building, just a stone`s throw from the convention, into a bustling nerve centre that is working round-the-clock.
Televisions are tuned to all available news stations, while eager aides scan the Internet on banks of computers, noting every mention of the Kerry campaign and ready to counter any claim made by their Democratic rivals.
Meanwhile, there is also a tiny television studio where party chairman Ed Gillespie and other Republican heavyweights are giving dozens of interviews in a bid to steal some of the Democrats` thunder.
"They are a very angry, bitter, harsh party today," Gillespie said Monday, hammering home the anti-Kerry message in what will be a daily press conference throughout the convention.
To reinforce that message, the walls are lined with contradictory quotes from Kerry`s political career and an enormous sign that reads "John Forbes Kerry, 97" -- the senator`s liberal reliability rating bestowed by a US magazine.
It is the highest rating in the Senate today. His running mate, Senator John Edwards, is fourth.
Dyke, a polished political pro who knows how to stay "on message," said the Republicans would ease up on their operations -- if only Bill Clinton and other leading Democrats would "tell the truth" about Kerry.
"If President Clinton stepped up to the podium and said, John Kerry voted for higher taxes 350 times, and here`s why... we would have a different approach," Dyke said.
In fact, the opposition "war room" is becoming a regular feature of US political conventions, inspired by the famed Clinton spin machine that brought him to the White House in 1992.
"It actually used to be that the opposition party would go on vacation when their friends on the other side were having their convention," said Howard Kurtz, a media columnist for the Washington Post.
"But now, in this age of hyper-saturated media, everybody feels like they`ve got to get into every story, every news cycle," he said.
At least one old tradition still holds, however.
US President George W. Bush himself is staying under the radar this week, not campaigning while Kerry laps up the limelight he hopes will put him in the Oval Office come January.
But while the president keeps a low profile, his party is gearing up for their convention in New York at the end of August -- when the Democrats will have their own war room in operation.
"There are 15,000 journalists here in search of news, and there is not a lot of hard news, so the Republicans are kind of smart," Kurtz said.
"The Democrats plan to do the same thing," he said. "But I don`t think it has a tremendous effect."