Powell’s Ideas Stand Front and Center Tonight

And now for something different: Colin L. Powell, the man who shunned a run for the presidency many thought he could win, will address the Republican National Convention at its opening session tonight and all eyes will be on whether his speech will touch on some of the social issues that are hot buttons in the GOP.

On at least two of the hottest--abortion and affirmative action--Powell’s remarks will indicate the gap between himself and many of the delegates here--even as he stresses a message of inclusiveness.

He favors a woman’s right to abortion. He favors affirmative action. Sources close to Powell, who have seen his speech, say he will reiterate those views tonight. Another source close to the retired general, however, said Sunday night that the speech would make only minor mention of those subjects, raising questions about how bold Powell will be in laying out his differences with the party he formally joined only last fall.

His positions on those two issues set him apart from a majority of convention delegates, and, if he stresses them, it would sound some of the few discordant notes at the carefully choreographed gathering.

Said a source close to Powell: “He is going to speak from the heart. He’ll speak about his life experiences and about Bob Dole’s. He’ll talk about his American journey and Bob Dole’s. He’ll talk about the challenges of the next several years, about values and civility in the political process, and . . . fairness and hope for all citizens--for all citizens, not just those of privilege.”

Thus, the speech tonight will offer Powell the sort of opportunity no one else has been given and, for some, will speak to how valuable his presence is to the party that seemed last autumn to be aching for a Powell presidential candidacy.

It also brings out an element of American politics that can be overlooked in the often-angry debate over the most sensitive issues: Personality remains a powerful force in political popularity.

Just as polls consistently showed that a majority of Americans disagreed with positions taken by Ronald Reagan but thought well of him, Powell’s self-effacing persona reinforces his popularity even among GOP delegates, many of who disagree with his outspoken positions on some social issues. Indeed, as his exposure has increased with the publication last fall of his autobiography and the frequent public appearances in which he has spoken his mind, there appears to have been no diminished interest in him.

Ironically, in his low-key but powerful style, Powell’s address could be the San Diego version--in mirror image--of the one delivered by Patrick J. Buchanan at the party’s convention in Houston four years ago.

To be sure, Powell speaks with a measured, modest tenor far distant from Buchanan’s. Far be it from Powell, a friend of his said, “to poke a stick in somebody’s eye.”

But if he takes positions that set him apart from the party’s standard-bearers and rank-and-file--no matter how gentlemanly his manner--he risks this: temporarily drawing the nation’s attention away from the presidential candidate he has come to praise and moving it to the gap between the party’s hard-line platform and the more centrist attitudes that polls have shown a majority of Americans hold on abortion and affirmative action.

Among the activists attending the convention, a Los Angeles Times delegate survey found, 65% believe the system of racial and gender preference known as affirmative action should be abolished. And Ward Connerly, the sponsor of California’s Proposition 209 that would reject racial quotas, has said he will walk out of the convention if Powell voices his opposition to the November ballot initiative.

The Times poll also found that less than a quarter of the delegates join with Powell in characterizing themselves as favoring a woman’s right to abortion. The party platform being presented to the delegates today gave no ground to freedom-of-choice proponents.

The 15-minute address will come at the end of what convention planners hope will be an upbeat, if nostalgic, evening, that will include remarks by former Republican Presidents Ford and Bush and former First Lady Nancy Reagan; and a Ronald Reagan videotape.

Powell served Reagan as national security advisor and Bush as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. As the first African American to hold either post, he assumed a unique visibility, heightened further by public appearances after he left office more than three years ago and the best-selling status of his recent autobiography.

Before accepting separate invitations from party Chairman Haley Barbour and Dole himself that he address the convention of a party he joined only last November, Powell first made clear that he--not they--would determine his message.

They acceded.

At a meeting June 8 at the McLean, Va., home of Kenneth M. Duberstein, a close Powell friend who was Reagan’s last White House chief of staff, Dole was said to have invited Powell “to deliver the message you’ve been delivering to the American people.”

That was taken as the go-ahead to give an address spelling out Powell’s position--one of tolerance for divergent viewpoints and civility in public debate.

“The speech he has written has gone to the convention [staff]. They looked at it and they found it OK,” said Bill Smullen, Powell’s spokesman.

And, although it was not a precondition, Powell also wanted Dole’s vice presidential choice to be decided, and made public, before he reached the podium, lest a powerful, well-received speech only fuel pressure, which he insisted was unwanted, that he join the ticket, sources close to him say.