July 30, 2004

Bush administration agrees to let New York use $2 billion in 9/11 aid to help build $6 billion rail link connecting World Trade Center site to Long Island Rail Road and Kennedy International Airport; decision is huge boost for Gov George E Pataki's efforts to get direct rail connection from Manhattan to airport; advocates for downtown say putting link at World Trade Center site would significantly enhance Lower Manhattan's efforts to attract new business and recover economically from terror attack; money will come from unused portion of multibillion-dollar tax-incentive package to help spur redevelopment of Lower Manhattan after 9/11; rail plan must still be approved by Congress; project is expected to be completed in 2013; detailed description of project; map (M)

News analysis of John Kerry's acceptance speech at Democratic National Convention; his goal was to show that he is strong enough to keep nation safe and caring enough to make it comfortable with him as president; he portrays himself as vastly preferable commander in chief to Pres Bush, citing his own combat service and using some variation of word 'strength' 17 times; he seeks to cast himself as determined skeptic in effort to counter Bush campaign's highlighting of sometimes contradictory votes he has cast in long Senate career; again and again speech reaches beyond Democratic delegates at convention to millions of viewers and voters who have yet to make up their minds and who, according to latest polls, have neither favorable nor unfavorable opinion of him (M)

Diversity among delegates at Democratic convention in Boston discussed; backgrounds diverge sharply by income, social position and political ties, reflecting reality that is little noted in party's official publications and speeches; privileged have been treated to variety of glittering soirees, while less well-heeled have more limited choices; photo (M)

R W Apple Jr column on importance of Ohio's 20 electoral votes; delegation is given priority seating at Democratic convention, and numerous visits by, and coddling from, bigwigs; strategists say race is shaping up to be very close in state; photo (M)

John A Thain, chief executive of New York Stock Exchange, is expected to unveil radical new plan to allow large investors to trade big blocks of shares electronically on floor of exchange; plan, called Direct Plus, represents stiffest challenge yet to open outcry model of trading used on exchange floor; is seen as Thain's best hope for stemming loss of exchange's market share to aggressive new breed of electronic trading exchanges and presenting to still skeptical public his vision of Big Board as hybrid market place, faithful to its legacy as auction-based trading arena, while also being technologically up to date; most significant element is new sweep function, which will allow investors to trade larger blocks of shares at different price points, with ultimate limit, via exchange's electronic networks, thus skirting price improvement process on floor; only 10 percent of volume on exchange is traded electronically, but that figure is expected to increase as plan becomes operational in coming months; photo (M)