Senator works at persuasion in his acceptance speech

As John F. Kerry journeys this week from his birthplace to the podium of the Democratic National Convention, he is also laboring over his acceptance speech, which campaign aides say will join the fall debates as a seminal moment in his bid to convince the public that he should be the next president.

Writing in longhand for three days last week on Nantucket, handing off drafts for fine-tuning to a former Clinton administration speechwriter, Terry Edmonds, and drawing both from his own sense of history and a reading of all of his party's presidential nomination acceptance speeches, Kerry is aiming to show not only that he has a vision for the country, but also that he is the person Americans should want as their leader, aides say.

''We believe he has already passed the bar with voters who may have wondered whether he was qualified on national security matters and whether he had the intelligence and experience to be president," Mary Beth Cahill, campaign manager, said last week. ''Now John Kerry needs to speak to the American people from his heart and from his mind as a father, a son, a veteran, a leader."

At the same time, the campaign is also checking what is to besaid by the convention's other speakers, hoping to develop a cogent argument to listeners and to build a foundation for Kerry's speech on Thursday night.

Almost every speech to be delivered within the FleetCenter, from opening remarks delivered Monday by former Vice President Al Gore to comments delivered by Kerry's nine former rivals for the nomination, is being reviewed by either the campaign or the Democratic National Convention Committee, a Kerry adviser said.

Gore, the convention's first major speaker, is expected to urge the audience to pick up where it left off in his 2000 campaign -- an election that many conventioneers believe was stolen from them in Florida.

On Wednesday night, Kerry's running mate, Senator John Edwards of North Carolina, will recite his rise from the son of a mill worker to an adulthood as both a millionaire and senator, before devoting the remaining half of his speech to Kerry and his qualifications, said the adviser.

Others who challenged Kerry for the presidency, from Bob Graham to Howard Dean and Al Sharpton, will address the delegates after 8 p.m. throughout the week. ''The senator's orders to us were clear: He wanted everyone treated equally," the adviser said. ''He doesn't hold any grudges from the campaign and wants the party to leave Boston united."

The only exception will be Representative Dennis J. Kucinich of Ohio, who did not halt his campaign or endorse Kerry until last week. He is slotted to speak Wednesday between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m., before a larger prime-time audience is expected to tune in.

Glen Johnson can be reached at johnson@globe.com.