U.S. Republican National Convention co-stars Laura Bush and Arnold Schwarzenegger commended President Bush to the country Tuesday for four more years in office, praising him for unflinching leadership in a time of national testing. "I am so proud of the way George has led our country with strength and conviction" in the war on terror, the first lady planned to say.

"I believe in this president," the Austrian-born California governor planned to say in prepared remarks that blended high praise for Bush with a pledge to immigrants that the party will welcome them.

"We Republicans admire your ambition. We encourage your dreams. We believe in your future," the body builder-turned-movie star and politician planned to say.

Schwarzenegger and the first lady were to have their turns at the Madison Square Garden podium as 2,508 delegates formally bestowed their nomination on the president for a second term in office.

Bush, locked in a tight re-election race, campaigned across three battleground states during the day and worked to extinguish a convention-week controversy of his own making. "In this different kind of war, we may never sit down at a peace table. But make no mistake about it, we are winning, and we will win" the war on terror, he told an American Legion convention in Tennessee, one day after saying he didn't think victory would be possible.

"I probably needed to be more articulate" he conceded in a radio interview with conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh.

Bush's Democratic rival, Sen. John Kerry, was at home in Nantucket, Mass., meeting with senior aides to discuss the shape of his fall campaign for the White House.

His running mate, Sen. John Edwards, accused Republicans of engineering an attack-driven convention. "You know why? Because they don't have a plan to create jobs, to fix health care or to win the war on terror," said the North Carolina lawmaker. "And they certainly don't want to bring up the big elephant in the room, 1.8 million jobs gone, more than 5 million people who have lost their health insurance."

Bush arrives in New York on Wednesday, a day ahead of his nomination acceptance speech that is expected to sketch out a second-term agenda. Vice President Dick Cheney addresses the convention Wednesday night.

A poll by The Washington Post showed the race to be a dead heat, 48 percent apiece, but found that the president is moving ahead of his rival on national security issues and pulling into a virtual tie on handling of the economy.

Police reported that the number of convention-related arrests over the last several days had topped 500, including 14 who were taken into custody on Wall Street for blocking morning rush hour traffic on Tuesday.

Some demonstrators showed a flair for the dramatic. Protesters outside the hotel housing the Texas delegation grunted in pig snouts and rolled in fake $100 bills featuring the sneering image of the vice president, the former head of Halliburton Co.

Security personnel also disclosed that they had arrested a 21-year-old Yale student on the convention floor Monday night when he entered a restricted area near Cheney's booth and began making anti-war statements. They said the vice president was never in danger.

Retired Army Gen. Tommy Franks, former commander of forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, was a late addition to the speaking program as the campaign worked to strengthen Bush's claim as a steady commander in chief.

The script also called for something of a Bush family hour, with twins Jenna and Barbara introducing their father the president, who would in turn make remarks by remote hookup to present his wife for her speech.

In her prepared remarks, Mrs. Bush said that Bush's leadership has helped 50 million men, women and children win freedom over the past four years, a reference to wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"I want to talk about the issue that I believe is most important for my own daughters, for all our families, and for our future: George's work to protect our country and defeat terror so that all children can grow up in a more peaceful world," she was to say.

Schwarzenegger did double duty as a speaker, a prominent moderate with appeal beyond Bush's own conservative base, and also an immigrant with credentials to reach out to others like him.

"In this country, it doesn't make any difference where you were born. It doesn't make any difference who your parents were. ... America gave me opportunities and my immigrant dreams came true," he said in his prepared remarks. "I want other people to get the same chances I did, the same opportunities."

Immigration has often been a fault line within the Republican Party in recent years. The platform supports Bush's proposal to grant temporary legal status to millions of illegal aliens with needed job skills, but conservative critics oppose the plank, arguing it offers amnesty to lawbreakers.

Schwarzenegger's praise of Bush bordered on the extravagant.

"America is back. Back from the attack on our homeland �� back from the attack on our economy, back from the attack on our way of life," he planned to say in a reference to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 and an echo of his Terminator character mantra.

"We're back because of the perseverance, character and leadership" of the president, he was to say.

The world outside the convention delivered jarring news in the global war on terror.

A suicide bomber was blamed for an explosion near a busy subway station in Moscow. Hamas took responsibility for blowing up two buses in Israel. And a Web site offered a link to a video purporting to show the methodical, grisly killings of 12 Nepalese construction workers kidnapped in Iraq.

The Washington Post survey gave Bush an edge of 53-43 percent over Kerry on qualifications to be commander in chief, erasing Kerry's 52-44 percent advantage of a month ago. Bush led Kerry when voters were asked which man they would trust to handle the situation in Iraq, and again on the issue of managing the campaign against terrorism.

Source: China Daily/agencies