by Marc Carnegie
NEW YORK, Aug 30 (AFP) - US President George W. Bush's Republican party kicked off its national convention here on Monday, praising him as a strong leader who deserves four more years in the White House to keep up the war on terror.
Thousands of party faithful gathered in New York's famed Madison Square Garden, which was decked out in red, white and blue, to start the four-day gala that will see Bush accept the nomination for president on Thursday night.
"We will leave here with momentum that will carry us to victory in November," party chairman Ed Gillespie said as the convention got underway after a weekend of anti-Bush protests that flooded the streets of the city.
Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, who had no opposition within the party, are to face Democrats John Kerry and John Edwards in the November 2 election.
As the convention got underway, Bush administration officials fanned out across the city to muster up votes in what polls suggest will be a neck-and-neck race that could pivot on a few key swing states like Ohio.
"He's a confronter and a leader," Margaret Spellings, Bush's top domestic policy advisor, told delegates at a breakfast rally for Ohio Republicans, hitting a theme that the party will underline all week.
The convention, the first held by the Republicans in New York City, was to stress Bush's leadership following the September 11, 2001 terror attacks that demolished the World Trade Center just three miles (five kilometers) away.
Arizona Senator John McCain and former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani were to be featured speakers at the opening night ceremonies. Cheney was to make his acceptance speech on Wednesday, with Bush to close the convention on Thursday.
The president was on the campaign trail on Monday, holding events in the states of New Hampshire and Michigan, while in New York the party hoped the media focus on the convention will convince a divided American people to send Bush back to the White House.
The 58-year-old Texan has made the war on terror the centrepiece of his re-election bid, but Republicans got a taste of popular anger over Iraq as demonstrators staged a massive anti-Bush rally here on Sunday.
Defying a sweltering late-summer sun, protesters flooded the streets of New York for a noisy but peaceful protest that attracted war veterans, grandmothers, ageing hippies and fed-up Americans of all stripes.
New York police said they arrested 200 people, mostly for disorderly conduct and away from the march itself. There were no major incidents or injuries.
The demonstrators marched in front of the Madison Square Garden convention site, where unprecedented security is out in force.
SWAT teams in all-black riot gear, secret service agents, New York police and other security personnel have turned the normally bustling area into a virtual fortress.
A high-tech intelligence analysis center with staff drawn from 20 agencies opened in New York last week to guard against the possibility of terrorist attacks.
The Bush administration has said it has intelligence that al-Qaeda may want to strike again before the election, and many New Yorkers have been angered that the Republicans chose to hold their convention in the city.
The symbolism of the September 11 attacks carry great weight for Bush, whose time in office has been dominated by those attacks and the subsequent wars on Afghanistan and Iraq.
Cheney arrived in New York on Sunday, and spoke to supporters from Ellis Island with the altered skyline of the city -- the empty space where the Trade Center towers stood -- behind him.
"My job here this week, and in the two months ahead, is to tell people all across America how steadfast our president is," Cheney said. "He is exactly the leader we need for these times, and we need him for four more years."
Bush critics have accused the Republicans of trying to mask the party's true values by scheduling prime-time speakers like California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Giulani, whose moderate policies sometimes clash with those of the president.
The keynote address of the convention is being given by a maverick Democrat, Senator Zell Miller.
One of the highlights on Monday's opening night is a speech by McCain, the Arizona senator whose character was rubbished in the 2000 Republican primaries and who had flirted with Democratic hopeful Kerry.
But according to advance copy of his speech, McCain was to laud the president's campaign against terrorism.
"He has been tested and has risen to the most important challenge of our time, and I salute him. I salute his determination to make this world a better, safer, freer place," McCain was to say.
In keeping with US political tradition, Kerry was expected to lay low this week and cede the media spotlight to his opponent.
But just as the Republicans did during the Democratic convention in Boston one month ago, the Democrats have set up a political "war room" here to try to counter the media attention drummed up by the four-day extravaganza.