Balloons poised for Bush election speech

High among the rafters at Madison Square Garden, tens of thousands of balloons, red, white and blue, strain against nets waiting to drop on to a cheering crowd below.

Looking out past the balloons and on to the arena below are dozens of cramped media “skyboxes”, housing the sharp-suited anchor men and women from the US television networks.

And on Thursday night the balloons will fall as the news pundits deliver their verdict on whether President George Bush is likely to get another four years in office.

As he addresses his Republican party faithful Mr Bush will gaze over waves of delegates, wearing George Bush badges, holding banners and rising from their blue chairs which cover the royal red carpet.

From the tiny seating area for delegates from the Virgin Islands, to the rows upon rows of chairs for the Californians, they will cheer for his re-election in November.

The Republican Party decided to host its convention at Madison Square Garden, in the heart of New York City, many months ago.

Since then the terror alert in the city has been raised and New Yorkers, already a left-leaning bunch, have become increasingly frustrated with Mr Bush’s policies, mainly the war in Iraq.

So bomb-sniffing dogs pace the streets at the ends of their leashes, and officers carry detectors to scan the air for traces of a radioactive attack.

More officers are dotted across the city, with riot helmets, plastic “quick cuffs”, and extra-long batons strapped to their waists.

More than 100,000 demonstrators took to the streets, on Sunday, many fearing that four more years of President Bush could mean more wars and greater isolationism in the world.

More than a thousand people have been arrested in the city during protests over the last week.

The combined threat of a terrorist attack and hostile crowds means that “The Garden” – which normally hosts the Knicks basketball team and the Rangers ice hockey squad – is a fortress.

In years gone by, police and the US Secret Service had to worry about protecting the president from a simple assassination attempt.

But now weighty concrete blocks are lined up around the hall to prevent suicide attackers driving a truck bomb at the hall.

A few feet of steel fencing are bolted to the top of the huge bricks to prevent flying metal from a car bomb tearing through the lines of police officers who ring the building.

The old saying of having a police officer “on every street corner” has never been more true than it is in New York City today.

Turn a corner, you find half a dozen officers at a grocery store, taking a break to buy bottles of water.

Turn another and there will be a line of officers waiting by scooters or motorbikes, ready for a fast departure to any protest flashpoint.

Around another corner, police horses are tied to scaffolding, being brushed down by their riders. Rookie officers sit sweating in their vans, the engines still running so they can keep the air conditioning on.

And further downtown bicycling cops, dressed in bike helmets, shorts and gun holsters wait to be dispatched to any trouble spot.

The buzz of helicopters is relentless.

While the defences have proved an inconvenience for New Yorkers, they are a sign of exactly how edgy the US is following the September 11 terror attacks.

Mr Bush hopes that the nation will put its faith in him, to protect the country from ever suffering such devastation ever again.

Now the stage is set at Madison Square Garden for Mr Bush to deliver his crucial convention address.

His rival Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts succeeded a month ago, and while he rushed through his speech, he got through it in one piece.

The computer-generated images of the Statue of Liberty and bright white stars swirling across the main stage screen have been tested.

And renditions of the Star Spangled Banner have been rehearsed and re-rehearsed.

As the balloons float from the ceiling onto a hopeful George Bush on Thursday he will stare through the glare of giant spotlights onto his party faithful, standing below a banner which reads “A Nation of Courage”.

But the delegates are already convinced.

It is the people who see a convention hall ringed by anti-bomb fences, in a country which fears the next September 11, who he really has to reach.