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Biden attacks Trump at Hillary's convention

PHILADELPHIA — Democrats stepped up their attacks on Donald Trump Wednesday as they prepared to nominate Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine for vice president and hear President Obama call Hillary Clinton the most qualified presidential candidate in history.

Vice President Joe Biden speaks during the 2016 Democratic National Convention at Wells Fargo Center. (Photo: Robert Deutsch, USA TODAY)

PHILADELPHIA — Democrats stepped up their attacks on Donald Trump Wednesday as they prepared to nominate Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine for vice president and hear President Obama call Hillary Clinton the most qualified presidential candidate in history.

Despite a star-studded lineup of speakers that included Vice President Biden and former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, it was Trump who increasingly dominated attention at the Democratic National Convention because of his latest controversial comments urging Russia to unearth Clinton's missing emails.

Biden said Trump is less prepared to be president than any major-party candidate in history. "He has no clue about what makes America great," the vice president said. "Actually he has no clue, period." The delegates erupted into a chant, "Not a clue!"

"We cannot elect a man who belittles our closest allies while embracing dictators like Vladimir Putin," Biden said,

"It is inconceivable to me that any presidential candidate would be that irresponsible," former defense secretary Leon Panetta said. "In an unstable world, we cannot afford unstable leadership."

In prepared remarks, Kaine planned to call Trump "a slick-talking, empty-promising, self-promoting, one-man wrecking crew."

"He never tells you how he's going to do any of the things he says he's going to do," Kaine planned to say. "He just says, 'believe me.' So here's the question: Do you really believe him? Donald Trump's whole career says you better not."

The third day of the Democrats' conclave also featured a guest appearance by Bloomberg, an independent who denounced Trump's record as a Manhattan-based developer and urged delegates to vote for the "sane, competent person" in the race.

"Throughout his career, Trump has left behind a well-documented record of bankruptcies, and thousands of lawsuits, and angry shareholders and contractors who feel cheated, and disillusioned customers who feel they've been ripped off," Bloomberg said.

"The bottom line is: Trump is a risky, reckless and radical choice. And we can't afford to make that choice," he said.

By far the biggest speech of the night was to come from Obama, 12 years to the day after he electrified the 2004 Democratic convention in Boston with a keynote address that propelled him to the White House.

Obama planned to make the case that only Clinton has the knowledge and experience required to lead the nation through difficult times. He planned to say that she is cool in crisis and "never, ever quits," according to excerpts released earlier in the day.

“That’s the Hillary I know. That’s the Hillary I’ve come to admire," Obama planned to say. "And that’s why I can say with confidence there has never been a man or a woman more qualified than Hillary Clinton to serve as president of the United States of America.”

Obama's appearance, coming the night after former president Bill Clinton lauded his wife's career in public service, will overshadow the day's other major event: Kaine's official nomination as the party's candidate for vice president. Given Obama's popularity among the party faithful, Kaine was relegated to speak before him.

Earlier in the day, Obama expressed concern about important global matters Trump "doesn’t know and hasn’t seemed to spend a lot of time trying to find out" about.

"What I think is scary is a president who doesn’t know their stuff and doesn’t seem to have interest in learning what they don't know,” Obama told NBC News -- "basic knowledge about the world or what a nuclear triad is or where various countries are or the difference between Sunni and Shia in the Muslim world."

Trump was on the campaign trail Wednesday, telling reporters in Doral, Fla., that Obama is "the most ignorant president in our history" and adding that Clinton "would be even worse."

He said Clinton would approve bad trade deals and allow possibly dangerous immigrants from the Middle East to flood the country. He expressed support for a $10 minimum wage but said it should be up to state governments to decide because of variations in the cost of living.

After the event, Trump made stops in Pennsylvania and was headed for Ohio, energized by a Los Angeles Times poll that showed him leading Clinton, 47%-40%.

Donna Brazile, who took over as interim Democratic Party chairwoman after Debbie Wasserman Schultz stepped down over allegations that her staff favored Clinton over Bernie Sanders, told USA TODAY she was not concerned by current polling numbers.

"Come Labor Day, you'll see Hillary Clinton pulling away again," Brazile said. "There is a path to the White House for the Democratic Party."

There was an air of confidence in the arena Wednesday as speakers and videos portrayed Clinton as a sound leader and Trump as erratic.

"This very morning, he personally invited Russia to hack us," retired Navy Admiral John Hutson said. "That's not law and order. That's criminal intent."

Hutson also noted Trump's attacks on Sen. John McCain for getting captured in Vietnam, saying: "Donald, you're not fit to polish John McCain's shoes."

The trend continued all night. Former Maryland governor Martin O'Malley, who failed in his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, said “It’s time to put a bully racist in his place, and a tough woman in hers, the White House.”

Trump has mostly been spared the wrath of outside protesters here. Instead, the party's liberal wing have called for everything from a halt to war and fracking to clean-up efforts in Flint, Michigan's polluted water. Inside the arena, supporters of Bernie Sanders interrupted speakers on occasion to chant their views.

Unlike the Republican convention in Cleveland last week, most speakers addressed domestic policy issues. On Wednesday night, that included a lengthy diatribe against the gun lobby, led by survivors of the gun attacks in Orlando, Fla., Charleston, S.C., and Newtown, Conn.

Delegates stood and applauded many of them, but none more so than former Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, still recovering from being shot in the head in Tucson more than five years ago. She appeared with her husband, retired astronaut Mark Kelly.

“Speaking is difficult for me, but come January, I want to say these two words: 'Madame President,'" Giffords said.

Tuesday's most intense protest followed one of the most dramatic moments at the convention thus far, when Sanders moved for Clinton's nomination by acclamation following what had been a long and at times bitter primary campaign. Sanders' graciousness appeared to help tamp down the anger and frustration voiced by his most ardent supporters, some of whom even walked out of the convention rather than be seen supporting his opponent.

Inside, it was all about the Clintons on Tuesday. The former secretary of State appeared via video from New York to thank delegates for their support and urge them to fight for her and their party in the grueling, three-month election season that lies ahead.

"What an incredible honor you have given me," she said. "We just put the biggest crack in that glass ceiling yet."

Contributing: Eliza Collins, Nicole Gaudiano. Kevin Johnson, David Jackson

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