In his keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention Tuesday night, former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner described this year's presidential election as a race for the future, in which transformation to a new day will be embodied through the election of Barack Obama, or a miring in the past with John McCain.

"Yes, the race for the future is on, and it won't be won if only some Americans are in the running," Warner said. "It won't be won with yesterday's ideas and yesterday's divisions. And it won't be won with a president who is stuck in the past."

Warner said that Obama understands the world and the changes needed to bring a bright future to America.

"Right now, at this critical moment in our history, we have one shot to get it right," he said. "And the status quo just won't cut it.

"Now let me tell you, if you think there's been dramatic changes in the world and in technology over the last 10 years, you ain't seen nothing yet. The race is on, and if you watched the Olympics, you know China's going for the gold."

The selection of Warner, a millionaire cell phone developer, to deliver the keynote speech on the second night of the convention highlights Democrats' effort to win the traditionally Republican state for the first time since 1964.

Warner, who is a favorite to win his state's open Senate race, was given the featured role that Obama used in 2004 to catapult himself to national prominence. Warner was on the short list of potential running mates before Obama chose Delaware Sen. Joe Biden last week.

In his speech, Warner cited global warming, America's war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Bush's economic policy of borrowing money from China "to buy oil from countries that don't like us."

"How many people look at these things and wonder what the future holds for them? Their children? Their country? How many?

"In George Bush and John McCain's America, far too many."

Warner's speech was expected to take a bipartisan tone but the former governor didn't mince his words when he criticized Republicans.

Warner accused Bush of failing to tap into the character and resolve of Americans after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and asserted that McCain would do the same.

"Think about it," he said. "After Sept. 11, if there was a call from the president to get us off foreign oil, to stop funding the very terrorists who had just attacked us, every American would have said, 'How can I do my part?" This administration failed to believe in what we can achieve as a nation, when all of us work together.

"John McCain promises more of the same. A plan that would explode the deficit that will be passed on to our kids. No real plan to invest in our infrastructure. And his plan would continue spending $10 billion a month in Iraq. I don't know about you, but that's not just right. That's four more years that we can't just afford."

The McCain campaign immediately countered Warner's charges.

"There is a major difference in this election," McCain campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds said in a written statement. "Whether it's been rooting out corruption in politics, fighting global climate change or calling for a new strategy in Iraq, John McCain has a record of making bipartisan change, and Barack Obama does not."

Despite all the partisan bluster, Warner did acknowledge that it will take both political parties to succeed.

"I know we're at the Democratic convention, but if an idea works, it really doesn't matter if it has an 'R' or 'D' next to it. Because this election isn't about liberal versus conservative. It's not about left versus right. It's about the future versus the past."

The biggest applause came at the end of Warner's speech when he invoked a letter by Thomas Jefferson, founder of the party, to his old rival, John Adams, in which he said he liked the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.

"Jefferson got it right at the dawn of the 19th century, and it's our challenge to get it right at the dawn of the 21st," he said. "This race is all about the future. That's why we must elect Barack Obama as our next president. Because the race for the future will be won when old partisanship gives way to new ideas. When we put solutions over stalemates, and when hope replaces fear."