Republican Convention

PHILADELPHIA - George W. Bush assured America last night that he would make "great decisions" on the basis of convictions rather than opinion polls. But the speech he delivered to cheering delegates at the Republican convention here was obviously, at least in part, a product of opinion polls. Bush showed the kind of touch that all political leaders seek and rarely achieve. Without falling into the trap of heavy-handed vituperation, he managed to remind the nation of the vulnerabilities of President Clinton and his choice as his successor, Vice President Al Gore.

SAN DIEGO -- Only minutes after retired Gen. Colin L. Powell had left the delegates to the Republican Convention in a glow of party unity here Monday night, Patrick J. Buchanan, the principal symbol of division in the GOP, strode across the convention floor, surrounded by television cameras.To a barrage of questions about what role he intended to play in the fall campaign, Buchanan, a loser for the second time in two tries for the GOP presidential nomination, said only that he would support the Dole-Kemp ticket and would be discussing with the winners' campaign what that role might be.A blond woman in a bright red dress and hat on the fringe of the crowd of reporters and photographers shouted over to Buchanan.

PHILADELPHIA - As Newt Gingrich makes his way through Republican convention crowds here, it's easy to forget that the former House speaker has become a pariah in his party. He's surrounded by well-wishers and autograph-seekers. Reporters stick microphones in his face, and photographers capture updated shots of him. And he seems to turn up everywhere - in the convention hallways, at the limitless round of receptions and on the television talking-head circuit. Everywhere but on the podium.

PHILADELPHIA - Largely by design, but also with a little luck thrown in, George W. Bush and his party come away from the 37th Republican National Convention impressively unified and focused on the task of regaining the White House. What the nominee called an "iron fist" control of the convention, which exorcised conflict and controversy from the platform before the opening gavel fell, assured one of the most placid and collegial Republican quadrennial gatherings ever. "This year, the delegates came into Philadelphia more united than they have been in years," said David Keene, head of the American Conservative Union.

NEW YORK - It used to be the words "Bush twins" and "party" would never appear in any sentence the White House would be too eager to read, but last night the president's famously fun-loving daughters were unleashed on the party scene on official business - to help their father win re-election. Americans who knew the first twins mainly through the gossip pages - partying in New York or being cited for underage drinking or otherwise romping with friends - will see them this week as representatives of the Bush-Cheney campaign.

THE REPUBLICAN PARTY assembles in San Diego tomorrow with its presidential candidate 20 points behind in the polls, its platform far more conservative than the electorate as a whole, its opponent adroitly punching the right political buttons, its control of the Congress in jeopardy, its loyalists deeply divided over abortion and economic policy and -- surprisingly -- its dominance in the nation's on-going ideological debate acknowledged even by Democrats.For...

SAN DIEGO -- Tonight is Bob Dole's big night at the GOP convention. But a select group of Republicans in San Diego is already thinking about tomorrow.They are the party's rising stars, its next generation of presidential candidates. And unless Dole wins in November, their moment has arrived.The Republican Class of 2000 -- the Millennial Class -- would include some veterans of past campaigns, certainly Patrick J. Buchanan and quite likely Jack Kemp, now given a second chance at presidential politics.

PHILADELPHIA - Ellen Sauerbrey was tardy for breakfast with the Maryland delegation of the National Republican Convention yesterday morning, later than planned, that is. And if that doesn't seem like news, well, there's a lot to be learned about modern-day political conventions. This convention, this city, has all the spontaneity of a Catholic wedding. As for planning, the Persian Gulf War had nothing on this event, where everyone is choreographed like a line of Rockettes who have supplemented years of double-shift training with hyper-hypnosis.

NEW YORK -- As he strolled proudly into Madison Square Garden last night, wearing a platter-sized Bush-Cheney campaign button that said "Everything is bigger in Texas," Wayne Turner said there is one image he is hoping not to see during the Republican convention this week: the one of President Bush standing at Ground Zero with a bullhorn days after the Sept. 11 attacks. "I hope they don't show that video," said Turner, a 67-year-old alternate delegate from Waxahachie, Texas. "There is a risk the media will pick up on that and say we're just using 9/11."