DENVER -- Thousands of people lined Colfax Avenue and Clarkson Street Friday afternoon to attend the John Kerry and John Edwards rally at the Fillmore Auditorium.

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Kerry, Edwards Rally Support In Denver

The rally was originally scheduled outside the Fitzsimons hospital campus in Aurora but was moved because of bad weather. However, because the venue that the rally was moved to is a lot smaller than originally planned, hundreds of Kerry supporters may be left out in the cold, 7NEWS reported.

Capacity at the Fillmore is 3,200 people but Kerry's campaign issued rally tickets to at least three times that amount, 7NEWS reported.

Kerry planned to talk about the values he learned from his parents.

His father, Richard, volunteered to serve during World War II and was stationed in Colorado when Kerry was born. His mother, Rosemary, led his Boy Scout troop, volunteered at a hospital and started a recycling program before they were a community staple.

"My father helped me understand at an early age that we are all put on this earth for something greater than ourselves, and that's something my mother taught me too," Kerry said in remarks prepared for delivery Friday. "Through the power of their example, they both taught me that one of the most fundamental values in life is service to others. That's why I'm here, that's why I'm running for president and that's how together we're going to build a stronger America."

Both of his parents are now dead. Kerry choked up when ABC News anchor Peter Jennings asked him in an interview Thursday if he wished they could be there to see him get the nomination next week.

"Yes," Kerry said as he composed himself. "It's sad."

This is an emotional side of Kerry that he rarely shows publicly. At campaign stops he often asks voters personal questions about their health, their age and even their income, but he doesn't reveal much about his own feelings or share personal stories. He usually leaves that duty to people who campaign with him, including his children, his wife and his former Navy crewmates from the Vietnam War.

Those loved ones were to be with him at his kickoff Friday, along with running mate Edwards and his family.

Kerry communications director Stephanie Cutter said the Democratic National Convention in Boston and the events leading up to it give Kerry a chance to tell the voters "what's in his heart."

"By the end of the week, they'll have a sense of who the man is," Cutter said.

Many Democrats say he needs to reveal more of himself if he's going to win over voters. Besides, they say, his biography may be his best asset -- particularly his lauded service in the Vietnam War.

But the Bush campaign has spent millions of dollars on ads criticizing Kerry's voting record that may leave more voters with the impression that he's more a flip-flopper than the Democrat's preferred identity as a war hero. Kerry's mission at the Democratic National Convention is to try to change that impression.

Kerry's stump speech has been harshly critical of Bush, but Cutter said the next week he will remain positive and focused on showing voters how he will make the country safe and secure.

After the rally, Kerry will visit the site of the former Fitzsimmons Army Hospital, where he was born 61 years ago in December.

Colorado is Kerry and Edwards first stop on their seven-day bus tour to the Democratic National Convention in Boston, where Kerry will accept the Democratic presidential nomination.

After the convention, Kerry and Edwards plan a two-week coast-to-coast tour through 21 states via bus, train and boat. The campaign announced Friday the tour would begin July 30, and in the first days stop in Miami, Orlando and Jacksonville, Fla.; Dearborn, Flint and Grand Rapids, Mich.; Newburgh, N.Y., Zanesville and Bowling Green, Ohio; Scranton, Harrisburg and Greensburg, Pa.; Wheeling, W.Va.; and Milwaukee, Wis.

Later the tour will go through Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington. The campaign has not yet released the cities that Kerry and Edwards will visit in those states.