John Kerry will formally accept the Democratic Party's nomination for president later today (Thursday), in the climax of the party's four-day convention in Boston.
The Kerry campaign has released excerpts of the senator's planned acceptance speech.
Mr. Kerry is set to promise to immediately reform the U.S. intelligence system so, in his words, "policy is guided by facts, and facts are never distorted by politics."
That comment echoes critics of the Bush administration who say the decision to invade Iraq was based on faulty or distorted intelligence about Iraq's weapons capabilities.
Mr. Kerry is also expected to say the United States "needs to be looked up to, not just feared."
Ahead of tonight's speech, convention delegates will formally nominate John Edwards as the party's candidate for vice president.
Information for this report is provided by AP and Reuters.