Cheney claims spotlight at Republican convention

Vice President Dick Cheney, a powerful adviser to President George W. Bush but a reluctant and sometimes dull campaigner, steps into the spotlight on Wednesday in a nationally televised address to the Republican convention.
Cheney, a strong supporter of the war in Iraq, frequently defends the US-led invasion but the speech will provide his best chance to make the case to a broad audience.
The appearance will give many Americans their first extended view of Cheney, whose support for war and past ties to Halliburton and the oil industry have made him a lightning rod for Democratic critics, since the 2000 campaign.
Cheney's wife, Lynne, who will introduce him, made the early rounds of US morning television programs.
"The vice president's speech tonight is going to be about big issues, the big issues of this campaign - the war on global terror, the president's education policy, the fact that the economy is turning up again," she said on CNN's "American Morning."
New York police arrested more than 900 people late on Tuesday as anti-Bush activists blocked traffic, staged anti-war protests and harassed Republican delegates during a long day of civil disobedience on the city's streets.
The Republican Party formally nominated Bush on Tuesday for a second four-year term, setting up a two-month race to the November 2 election that polls show is essentially a dead heat. Bush has gained ground on Kerry in recent weeks and taken a slight lead in several surveys. 5,000 silently protest joblessness Up to 5,000 people on Wednesday silently protested job losses under President George W. Bush, by forming a symbolic unemployment line from Wall Street to the Republican convention.
Demonstrators waving pink paper sheets, symbolising the "pink slips" that US workers receive when they lose their jobs, formed a five-kilometer (three-mile) line from America's financial heart to Madison Square Garden.
Organisers said that between 3,300 to 5,000 people took part in the morning rush-hour protest, which was peaceful and even jocular at times.
"We want to send a message to the whole country that not since the Great Depression have there been such a massive loss of jobs during a president's four-year term," said organiser Joshua Sherer as he rallied his troops.