BOSTON, Massachusetts, July 29 (AFP) - Just hours after accepting the Democratic presidential nomination, John Kerry will hit the campaign trail running on Friday, launching a gruelling coast-to-coast tour to push home his bid for the White House.
Seeking to build on the momentum created by the party's national convention in Boston, Kerry and vice presidential running mate John Edwards will hold a rally here Friday morning, before setting off on a 5,600-kilometer (3,500-mile) journey across the country.
Following a rare and relatively unchallenged week in the national spotlight, the Kerry-Edwards ticket will once again be competing with the full force of the Republican re-election machine, as President George W. Bush prepares an aggressive return to his campaign.
The Democrats devoted much of their convention to bashing the Bush administration over every issue from education and health care to Iraq and the war on terror.
Kerry's campaign team compared their latest push to Harry Truman's 1948 "whistle-stop" campaign, when the embattled president saw off a strong challenge from Republican challenger Thomas Dewey by travelling thousands of kilometers (miles) by train and taking his program directly to the American people.
The tour "will trace America's Westward expansion, highlighting the optimistic American spirit that is at the heart of the Kerry-Edwards plan to build a stronger America," said Kerry spokeswoman Allison Dobson.
The newly appointed Democratic nominees plan to cover a combined total of 21 states.
Bush, who spent the week on his Texas ranch, returns to the White House Thursday ahead of a punishing 48-hour campaign swing through the key battleground states of Missouri, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.