Roundup: U.S. Democratic heavyweights vouch for Clinton, blast Trump at party convention

U.S. President Barack Obama and other heavyweight Democrats on Wednesday launched a concerted offensive on Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and vouched for Hillary Clinton, as the 2016 Democratic National Convention (DNC) entered its third day.

The November election is not a "typical election," but a "big" and "more fundamental choice" for the American people, Obama told some 5,000 delegates of the DNC at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on Wednesday night.

"What we heard was a deeply pessimistic vision of a country where we turn against each other, and turn away from the rest of the world. There were no serious solutions to pressing problems -- just the fanning of resentment, and blame, and anger, and hate," he said.

Trump, a New York real estate billionaire, "is selling the American people short," said Obama, calling on the nation "to reject cynicism, reject fears."

Obama spared no effort in praising Clinton, who officially captured her party's presidential nomination on Tuesday, becoming the first woman ever nominated for U.S. president by a major political party.

"There has never been a man or a woman ... more qualified than Hillary Clinton to be president of the United States," he said as the crowd burst into cheers.

After Obama said he is "ready to pass the baton" to Clinton to conclude his speech, the woman he hoped to be his successor made a surprise appearance on stage to greet him with a long embrace, closing the convention.

Obama gave the keynote speech to cap the night in which Senator Tim Kaine from Virginia took the stage for the first time as the Democratic vice presidential nominee.

"I humbly accept my party's nomination to be Vice President of the United States," a smiling Kaine said to thunderous applause.

Kaine, 58, a low-key Spanish-speaking politician, devoted much of his speech to introduce himself, telling his personal story.

He is expected to cement Clinton's lead among Hispanic voters and offer her a political boost among Virginia's independent voters and moderate Republicans displeased with Trump.

Kaine took a swipe at Trump for his business record, credibility, Trump University and his proposals to build a wall along the Mexican border, saying Trump "has a habit of saying the same two words right after he makes his biggest promises -- 'believe me.'"

Vice President Joe Biden also pitched in for Clinton, casting the former U.S. first lady and secretary of state as a person who knows about the problems of the middle class and who has always been in public life.

Clinton "knows," he repeated over and over. By contrast, Trump has no clue, he said.

Biden called Trump "a man who embraces the tactics of our enemies, torture, religious intolerance," urging the American people not to vote for "a man who exploits our fears of ISIS (the Islamic State) and other terrorists, who has no plan whatsoever to make us safer."

Both Obama and Kaine gave acknowledgement to Bernie Sanders, Clinton's bitter rival in the primaries, in a bid to rally millions of Sanders' supporters behind Clinton in the Nov. 8 general election.

The divided Democratic Party scrambled to rescue the four-day convention from a political uproar as the disclosure of nearly 20,000 emails from the DNC has reopened the bruising wounds from the primary season.

The emails, published by WikiLeaks on Friday, showed that the DNC officials who were supposed to remain neutral during the primary contest conspired against Sanders, who has championed a "political revolution" electrifying millions of supporters.

Though the DNC issued a formal apology to Sanders on Monday over the leaked emails scandal, thousands of Sanders' staunch supporters have taken to the streets during the convention to voice support for Sanders and his progressive agenda.

Sanders, a senator of Vermont, endorsed Clinton when he spoke on the opening night of the convention Monday. During the roll call vote of states to nominate Clinton as the Democratic standard-bearer on Tuesday, Sanders also took a symbolic move for party unity, saying he wanted to suspend the procedural rules and name Clinton the Democratic nominee.

Pro-Sanders delegates continued to express their anger and lash out against the DNC on Wednesday, with Hollywood star Susan Sarandon joining a protest in the media pavilion, the second of its kind since Tuesday. Endi