Published: July 16, 2004

Senator John Kerry is greeted by civil rights activist Benjamin Hooks at the N.A.A.C.P.'s annual convention in Philadelphia. Mr. Kerry criticized President Bush for turning down an invitation to speak at the convention.

HARLESTON, W.Va., July 15 - With President Bush declining to attend the N.A.A.C.P.'s annual convention, John Kerry seized the opening Thursday, accusing Mr. Bush of dividing Americans by race and class and promising to "be a president who is truly a uniter."

Addressing thousands of cheering convention delegates in Philadelphia, Mr. Kerry declared: "The president may be too busy to speak to you now, but I've got news for you. He's going to have plenty of time after Nov. 2."

Several others said Mr. Bush ought to have come. "He should be used to criticism - all of us are," said Ella Green, a retired banker from Allentown, Pa. "He would've been received the same as Kerry. He would not have been disrespected."

As Mr. Kerry spoke, the two campaigns also warred on the air over the black vote. On black radio stations, the Bush campaign began running a new advertisement that attacks Mr. Kerry for opposing a requirement that a parent be notified before a teenager could have an abortion.

The Kerry campaign, meanwhile, said that in consultation with the Congressional Black Caucus, it would revise its own ad campaign aimed at African-Americans, after some lawmakers called it uninspiring.

From Philadelphia, Mr. Kerry rode to suburban Lansdowne, Pa., for the first in a series of "front porch visits" with families, where he questioned his hosts and used their financial circumstances as a way to promote his domestic platform.

About 100 people listened outside the home of a local Democratic activist whose husband said they had been asked to take part because they met several criteria, among them that their house has a front porch.

As a heckler up the street shouted antiabortion slogans, the senator took several questions from invited guests, including Ryan Mattox, 10, who asked him what he would do "about the war."

Mr. Kerry first asked the boy a few questions, and learned that Ryan thought the war was evil "because millions of innocent people are being killed."

"What do you think about Saddam Hussein and the whole issue of weapons of mass destruction and things like that?" Mr. Kerry said. The boy said that was evil, too.

Mr. Kerry drew him out further, asking: "But you're not sure you would have gone to war to deal with it? You'd have tried to find some other way if you could have?"

"Yes," the boy said.

"Well,'' the senator replied, "that's a smart young man.''

David M. Halbfinger reported from Philadelphia and Charleston for this article, and Richard W. Stevenson from Washington.

The senator pointedly said that "when you're president, you need to talk to all the people, and that's exactly what I intend to do.''

Mr. Bush angered members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People last week by refusing its invitation to speak, making him the first incumbent president since Herbert Hoover not to meet with the group during an entire term in office.

Though citing "scheduling commitments,'' Scott McLellan, the White House spokesman, left little doubt Thursday that Mr. Bush, who addressed the group in 2000, saw no benefit in doing so again.

"I think it is really disappointing to see the current leadership continue to repeat the hostile rhetoric that they have used, which really shows that they're not interested in a constructive dialogue," Mr. McClellan said.

The N.A.A.C.P.'s top two officers - Julian Bond, chairman, and Kweise Mfume, president - have attacked Mr. Bush frequently and harshly over his civil rights record. Mr. Bond said Sunday, for example, that Republicans "preach racial neutrality and practice racial division."

On Thursday, Mr. Bond introduced Mr. Kerry by saying the president's decision not to attend was "his loss."

"He said he didn't come because we criticized him," Mr. Bond said. "But if he didn't go anywhere people criticized him, he'd never leave home."

After snubbing the N.A.A.C.P., the White House set up an appearance for Mr. Bush before the National Urban League next Thursday. Mr. McClellan characterized the Urban League as a better setting for Mr. Bush to make progress on issues important to African-Americans.

"I think the leadership of the Urban League has certainly worked closely with the president on important priorities and shared priorities,'' he said, "and they have welcomed the president coming and speaking to their organization.''

Mr. Kerry, in the first of two stops in Pennsylvania before flying to West Virginia for a fund-raiser and rally, began his 50-minute speech to the N.A.A.C.P. by pointing to Mr. Bush's refusal to appear.

"As a campaigner, I know something about scheduling and conflicts and hostile environments," he said. But "when you're president of the United States, you can pretty much say where you want to be and when."

Having taken the stage to the tune of the disco song "We Are Family," Mr. Kerry reached out to his audience by citing the black nationalist W. E. B. DuBois, the Bible and the poet Langston Hughes.

He suggested that the trademark theme of his running mate, Senator John Edwards - about "two Americas," one for the wealthy and the other for have-nots - could be traced to DuBois, who he said "called it a nation within a nation."

He also dipped into Scripture, quoting Matthew. "My faith teaches me, 'Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also,' " he said. "Let me tell you where my heart is: it's with the middle class, who are the heart of this country. It's with the working families who built this country. It's with the veterans who saved this country. It's with the cops and firefighters and soldiers who protect this country. And it is with the children who are the future of this country."

Mr. Kerry also said Mr. Bush falsely accused him on Wednesday of wanting to raise taxes on working people. "This president just really seems to have a problem with the truth,'' he said. ""I don't think he even knows what working people really are.''

Mr. Kerry was well received, though William Ishman, president of the Las Vegas chapter of the N.A.A.C.P., said the senator still had a ways to go in courting black voters.

"You've got to believe in someone," Mr. Ishman said of his support for Mr. Kerry. "I believe it's new ground for him, and I think he's handling it well. He hasn't had that connectedness with the African-American community. But he'll be doing a soulful dance by the time this is all over."