by Marc Lavine
NEW YORK, Sept 1 (AFP) - Americans face a "defining moment" in history when they choose a president in November, Vice President Dick Cheney warned Wednesday as right-wing Republicans took the upper hand at the party's convention.
Cheney, a hero of the Republican right and an architect of President George W. Bush's doctrine of pre-emptive assaults on terrorism, said the choice between Bush and his Democratic opponent John Kerry was stark..
"In this election, we will decide who leads our country for the next four years. Yet, there is more in the balance than that," he said in excerpts of his speech released ahead of time.
"Moments come along in history when leaders must make fundamental decisions about how to confront a long-term challenge abroad and how best to keep the American people secure.
"This nation has reached another of those defining moments," he said.
Bush's outspoken chief lieutenant has consistently hammered at Kerry as weak, irresolute and waffling on defense, said the choice for Americans in the November 2 election could not be clearer.
"On the question of America's role in the world, the differences between Senator Kerry and President Bush are the sharpest, and the stakes for the country are the highest," he said.
A politically divisive figure, the 63-year-old Cheney was also to formally accept the nomination to run for another four years at Bush's side, a day before Bush makes his acceptance speech.
But the consummate Washington insider is stepping into the national limelight to pump up Bush and the economy with his popularity rating at a new low and his political capital in question.
The convention's third day was dominated by speakers from the party's conservative wing after moderate politicians including Arnold Schwarzenegger and Senator John McCain were featured on the first two days.
Other conservatives such as Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum and Michael Reagan, the son of the late president Ronald Reagan, will also appear.
But the day's first attack on Kerry, came not from a Republican but from a member of his own party, Senator Zell Miller, who accused Kerry of fighting old battles.
The conservative former Georgia governor who has campaigned with Bush praised the president's firm hand and vision in the fight against terror.
Accusing his own party of focusing more on partisan politics than on national security following the September 11, 2001 strikes, he said: "John Kerry wants to refight yesterday's war.
"George Bush believes we have to fight today's war and be ready for tomorrow's challenges. George Bush is committed to providing the kind of forces it takes to root out terrorists."
But the convention was besieged by a fifth straight day of protests, including one that sneaked through the iron-clad security blanket around Madison Square Garden.
Up to 15 protesters disguised as Republicans infiltrated the venue to protest administration policy on AIDS and shout down Andrew Card, Bush's chief of staff, as he addressed young party members.
And as many as 5,000 people formed a silent human chain from Wall Street in support of some 2.4 million workers who lost their jobs during Bush's term. Police said they had arrested more than 900 people in protests Tuesday.
Though the country's economic recovery appears to be softening and hampered by skyrocketing oil prices, Commerce Secretary Don Evans was upbeat on the sidelines of the convention.
"This president inherited a Clinton recession and turned it into the early stages of a Bush prosperity," he said. "The economy remains healthy, continues to move in the right direction, and the data consistently supports that."
Bush, who was to make his closely watched acceptance speech Thursday, will go to the convention buoyed by new polls that show him moving up in what is still a dead heat with Kerry.
But the president's approval rating was still hovering at or below the key 50 percent mark and he appeared on the defensive over his contradictory statements this week on whether the war on terrorism was winnable.