DENVER (AP) - Barack Obama, his wife Michelle and running mate Joe Biden will embark on a bus tour of battleground states Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan later this week after he receives the Democratic presidential nomination, his campaign announced Wednesday.

That nomination will formally come later Wednesday as delegates to the Democratic National Convention crown Obama as the first black nominee of a major political party.

Obama was due to arrive in the convention city Wednesday afternoon.

Former President Clinton was also set to deliver a prime-time address the convention, a day after his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, sought to unify the party after a bitter primary season, delivering the second part of a one-two punch.

Anticipating Wednesday night's focus on national security at the Democratic National Convention, Republican John McCain contended in a new TV ad that Obama showed he was "dangerously unprepared'' for the White House when he described Iran as a "tiny'' nation that didn't pose a serious threat.

"Iran. Radical Islamic government. Known sponsors of terrorism. Developing nuclear capabilities to 'generate power' but threatening to eliminate Israel,'' says the ad, which was being run in key states. "Terrorism, destroying Israel - those aren't 'serious threats'''?

Missing from the ad was the context of Obama's remarks last May in which he compared Iran and other adversarial governments to the superpower Soviet Union. "They don't pose a serious threat to us the way the Soviet Union posed a threat to us,'' he said in arguing for talks with Iran. "You know, Iran, they spend one-100th of what we spend on the military. If Iran ever tried to pose a serious threat to us, they wouldn't stand a chance.''

The McCain ad signaled a shift from trying to stir up Hillary Clinton's supporters with her primary-season criticism of Obama to raising fears about Obama's ability to handle international threats. Clinton closed the book on her 2008 presidential bid Tuesday night with an emphatic plea for the party to unite behind Barack Obama.

The Democratic convention spotlight was turning to her husband, the former president, as he prepared to take the prime-time television stage Wednesday night. He is expected to launch attacks on McCain and on the Bush administration, particularly on the state of the U.S. economy.

Biden, the veteran Delaware senator who is Obama's choice as a running mate, will get prime-time exposure as well.

Hillary Clinton, who won 18 million votes but still failed to earn her party's nomination, planned to meet with delegates who still want to cast ballots for her during the nominating roll call Wednesday evening - a symbolic move before Obama is nominated, presumably by acclamation. Clinton has not indicated whether she would have her name placed in nomination or seek a formal roll call vote.

Clinton's aides said it remained unclear how exactly the meeting with the delegates would play out, or how her supporters will react.

"It's not Hillary's job to bring this party together,'' said Jennie Lou Leeder, a Clinton delegate from Llado, Texas. "It's Barack Obama's job to bring this party together.''

It's the kind of talk that Clinton tried to discourage. "I want you to ask yourselves: Were you in this campaign just for me?'' she said Tuesday night in her convention speech, addressing her supporters.

Clinton used her prime-time convention appearance to try to silence infighting over how to honor Clinton's campaign without distracting from Obama's upcoming contest against McCain.

"Barack Obama is my candidate, and he must be our president,'' she said.

Even so, bringing the Democratic Party together is going to take more than a single speech. The best unifier among Democrats going into the final sprint might just be McCain.

"Arizonans are also proud of their political tradition, from Barry Goldwater to Mo Udall to Bruce Babbitt. There's a pattern here,'' Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano told delegates Tuesday as part of the chorus eviscerating McCain. Goldwater, Udall and Babbitt all sought the presidency; none succeeded.

"Speaking for myself, and for at least this coming election, this is one Arizona tradition I'd like to see continue,'' Napolitano said.

Republicans, meanwhile, struggled for a bit of the spotlight. On Wednesday, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, the keynote speaker for the Republican convention next week, said that Hillary Clinton never told delegates that Obama was prepared for the presidency.

"Nowhere in that speech did she answer the question about his character, his ability to lead, the things that are at issue here,'' Giuliani said on "The Early Show'' on CBS. "And until she does, you're going to have a lot of Hillary Clinton supporters that are either not going to vote … or are going to vote for John McCain.''

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a potential running mate for McCain, also came to Denver and said Tuesday, "Barack Obama is a charming and fine person with a lovely family, but he's not ready to be president.''

Bill Clinton, whose reputation took some hits during the primary season, stayed away from his wife and daughter Chelsea - who introduced her mother on stage Tuesday evening. Instead, he watched his wife's speech from convention floor box seats.

"She was great,'' Clinton told The Associated Press as he left the convention hall. "Weren't you proud of her?''

Obama, 47, formally receives the nomination Wednesday. He delivers his acceptance speech Thursday night at a football stadium. An estimated 75,000 tickets have been distributed for the event, meant to stir comparisons with John F. Kennedy's appearance at the Los Angeles Coliseum in 1960.

McCain and his yet-unnamed running mate are scheduled to receive their nomination at the Republican convention in Minneapolis next week.

Clinton salutes Obama as Dems at convention cheer

By DAVID ESPO

AP Special Correspondent

DENVER - Hillary Rodham Clinton summoned the millions of voters who supported her in the primaries to send Barack Obama to the White House Tuesday night, and drew thunderous applause at the Democratic National Convention when she declared her one-time rival is "my candidate and he must be our president.''

"We don't have a moment to lose or a vote to spare,'' said the former first lady, writing the final chapter in a quest for the White House every bit as pioneering as Obama's own.

The packed convention floor became a sea of white "Hillary'' signs as the New York senator - Obama's fiercest rival across 56 primaries and caucuses - strode to the podium for her prime-time speech. The signs were soon replaced others that read simply, "Unity.''

While her remarks included a full-throated endorsement of Obama, Clinton did not say whether she would have her name placed in nomination or seek a formal roll call of the states when the party's top prize is awarded by delegates on Wednesday night.

Clinton had been the prohibitive favorite for the nomination she launched her campaign last year, seeking to become the first female president. But she fell behind Obama after the leadoff Iowa caucuses in January, and he now is poised to become the first black nominee of a major party.

Obama turned the featured speaking slot of the convention's second night over to Clinton, hoping she could nudge her disenchanted supporters toward his candidacy.

He called her after her speech to express his appreciation, aides said.

She followed others to the podium who ripped into Republican McCain as indifferent to the working class and cozy with big oil.

'If he's the answer, then the question must be ridiculous,'' New York Gov. David Paterson said of the GOP presidential candidate.

Said Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, "It's time to bring our jobs back and bring our troops home.''

"Call the roll!'' urged Ted Sorensen, a party elder eager to propel Obama toward the White House.

Not yet.

Obama's formal nomination was set for Wednesday night. First came Clinton,

The convention hall was packed for her appearance, so much so that officials sealed the entrances.

Calling herself a "proud supporter of Obama, Clinton dismissed Republican John McCain with a few choice words.

"No way. No how. No McCain,'' she said as the hall erupted in cheers.

"We don't need four more years … of the last eight years,'' she added.

Like other failed candidates at conventions past, Clinton recalled her own quest for the White House.

"You taught me so much, you made me laugh and … you even made me cry,'' she said to supporters in the Pepsi Center and millions more watching on nationwide television.

"You allowed me to become part of your lives, and you became part of mine.''

"I want you to ask yourselves, 'Were you in this campaign just for me?''' she asked.

Despite lingering unhappiness among some delegates nursing grievances over Clinton's loss, party chairman Howard Dean declared the convention determined to make Obama the nation's 44th president. "There is not a unity problem. If anyone doubts that, wait till you see Hillary Clinton's speech,'' he said.

In the convention keynote address, former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner said Obama will "appeal to us not as Republicans or Democrats, but first and foremost as Americans.'' He added, "We need leaders who see our common ground as sacred ground.''

In contrast to many of speeches delivered earlier in the day, out of prime time, Warner's remarks were more a sketch of the "post-partisan'' possibilities that Obama often speaks of, rather than criticism of McCain and President Bush.

"I know we're at the Democratic National Convention, but if an idea works, it really doesn't matter if it has an 'R' or 'D' next to it,'' he said.

As keynoter, Warner's task was the same one that Obama - then an Illinois state lawmaker running for the U.S. Senate - used four years ago to launch his astonishing ascent in national politics.

Obama, 47 and in his first Senate term, campaigned in Missouri as he slowly made his way toward the convention city. Speaking to airline workers in a giant hangar, he accused the Bush administration of failing to enforce health and safety laws and said McCain "doesn't get it'' when it comes to the concerns of blue collar workers.

There was more of the same - much more - as a parade of speakers criticized McCain at the convention several hundred miles away.

Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said the Republican has voted against "real sex education, voted against affordable family planning. And if elected, John McCain has vowed to appoint Supreme Court justices who will overturn Roe v. Wade,'' she said, referring to the landmark 1973 case that affirmed women's right to abortion.

Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland focused on economic issues. "While families are losing sleep tonight trying to figure out some way to make their paycheck stretch through one more day, John McCain is sleeping better than ever,'' he said, recalling that McCain had recently said Americans were better off because of President Bush's policies.

And Iowa Gov. Chet Culver said oil companies were "placing their bets on John McCain, bankrolling his campaign and gambling with our future.''

"John McCain offers four more years of the same Bush-Cheney policies that have failed us,'' summed up Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont.

Sorensen was a link to some of the party's glory years, John F. Kennedy's closest aide. As was the case with Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's emotional appearance on the convention's opening night Monday, Sorensen's presence on the podium was designed to strengthen the image of Obama as Kennedy's worthy heir.

Obama delivers his acceptance speech Thursday night at a football stadium. An estimated 75,000 tickets have been distributed for the event, meant to stir additional comparisons with Kennedy's appearance at the Los Angeles Coliseum in 1960.

The Republican National Convention meets in St. Paul, Minn., next week to nominate McCain and his still-unnamed running mate. That will set the stage for a final sprint to Election Day in a race that is remarkably close.

Dean, the party chairman, said the Democrats' imperatives were "to make sure people know who Barack Obama is, who Joe Biden is.''

Biden, a Delaware senator, is Obama's vice presidential pick, already making the rounds of the convention city.

Whatever tone the Democrats took, there was no mistaking McCain's intentions.

For the second time in three days, his campaign sought to use Clinton to wound Obama. This time it was a television commercial that made use of a memorable ad she ran in the primaries.

It shows sleeping children and a 3 a.m. phone call into the White House portending a crisis. In the new ad Clinton is shown saying: "I know Sen. McCain has a lifetime of experience that he will bring to the White House. And, Sen. Obama has a speech he gave in 2002.''

A narrator adds: "Hillary's right. John McCain for president.''