Rising Fawn, Ga. ? He won’t be cheering, painting his face in gaudy colors or waving banners, but the Democratic Party’s secret weapon is guaranteed to be the center of photographers’ attention when he shows up at the party’s national convention this month in Boston.

Swifty the donkey feasts on grass on Morris Powell's family farm in Rising Fawn, Ga. As one of the most active Democrats in the rural part of Georgia, Powell was assured a spot months ago as a delegate at the party's convention in Boston. It took some negotiating, but now Swifty is a delegate, too.

People call him Swifty. To the Democrats, he’s the official donkey delegate of their 2004 national convention.

Most of the year, he lives in the foothills of Lookout Mountain in the northwest corner of rural Georgia. But the purebred donkey is packing it up for the 942-mile haul to New England to help win over undecided voters for his party’s man, John Kerry.

Swifty was nearly barred from the convention venue as officials increased security in light of a terrorism threat. No one but delegates and staff — not even officially designated donkeys — will be allowed into the Fleet Center, officials said.

“I was almost in tears,” said Bridget Martin, a spokeswoman for the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers who helped organize the trip for Swifty’s handler, Morris Powell, a member of the union.

But the Kerry campaign came through, persuading Boston’s Franklin Park Zoo to take Swifty in.