Obama, Clinton and Cheney - File PhotosWASHINGTON (AP):
Former President Bill Clinton, one of Barack Obama's toughest critics in the primary race against Hillary Rodham Clinton, will speak at the Democratic convention this month in a sign the Clinton and Obama camps are unifying the party.
Democratic officials said that Bill Clinton president will give a speech on the third night of the convention, before an address by the as-yet-to-be-named running mate for Obama. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity before the details were formally announced.
The announcement came amid reports that Hillary Clinton has not ruled out allowing her name to be put in nomination for a roll call vote - a potentially major distraction leading into the final campaign stretch against presumptive Republican nominee John McCain.
fierce battle
McCain and Obama have been locked in a fierce battle ahead the November 4 presidential elections, with each taking swipes at the other over the economy - the key issue of the campaign - as well as foreign policy, an issue which McCain has derided his Democratic rival as inexperienced.
On that front, both candidates weighed in on reports of military clashes between Russia and Georgia over the breakaway region of South Ossetia, calling for calm and political intervention.
McCain, a former US Navy combat pilot and Vietnam prisoner of war who has touted foreign policy as his area of strength, said that "what's most critical now is to avoid further confrontation."
Obama, flying to Hawaii for a vacation from the campaign trail, issued a statement declaring that "Georgia's territorial integrity must be respected."
Leading into their respective party conventions, Democrats and Republicans were at work selecting speakers for their conventions. The Democrats will meet in Denver, Colorado, from August 25-28, while the Republicans will gather in early September in St Paul, Minnesota.
The announcement that Bill Clinton was to speak underscored continuing efforts between the Obama and Clinton camps to mend rifts stemming from their at-times acrimonious primary battle.
In the Democratic nomination fight, Hillary Clinton amassed major backing despite running second to Obama. And many of her supporters are said to be bitter about the loss and have refused or been slow to join Clinton in supporting Obama, who would be the first African-American candidate to win a major party's nomination for the presidency.
outbursts of anger
Her husband remains popular among Democrats and championed the cause of his wife on the campaign trail. But at times he distracted from candidate Clinton's campaign with outbursts of anger and for seeming to disparage Obama's early season victory in the South Carolina primary.
Hillary Clinton was expected to deliver a prime-time address to delegates on August 26, the second night of the convention. With the delegate roll call planned for the next evening, Obama was set to accept the nomination with a speech on the convention's fourth and final night.
Obama, who is hoping to become the first black US president, dismissed suggestions that tension between his supporters and hers could upset the gathering.
Obama told reporters Thursday that their staffs were working out mutually agreeable convention logistics. At the same time, Clinton was assuring her supporters during an online chat that she and Obama were "working together to make sure it's a big success".
Neither answered questions about whether Clinton's name should be placed in nomination so that her backers could record their votes.
cheney to speak
On the Republican side, the White House announced that Vice-President Dick Cheney - a conservative favourite, but a divisive national figure - will speak at the Republican convention along with President George W. Bush.
There had been doubts about a speech by Cheney, who has been unpopular with most Americans but may be helpful in shoring up the right-wing of the party for McCain, whose reputation as a maverick has worried many evangelical Christians and other Republican conservatives.
Separately, the girlfriend of Raymond Hunter Geisel, a 22-year-old arrested in Florida on charges he threatened to assassinate Obama, said he was the victim of a mistake.
threat
Authorities said Geisel, who was arrested late last week in Miami by the Secret Service and appeared in court Thursday, was keeping weapons and military-style gear in his hotel room and car. An affidavit by the Secret Service - which guards the presidential candidates - charges that Geisel made the threat during a training class for bail bondsmen in Miami in late July.
According to someone else in the 48-member class, Geisel allegedly referred to Obama with a racial epithet and continued, "If he gets elected, I'll assassinate him myself."
Geisel's girlfriend, Susanne Kynast, told The Associated Press that Geisel might have been joking about the possibility of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden becoming president. Kynast says he had no ill will towards Obama.
