GOP Talks Peace, Practices Disharmony at Convention

Divided and seeking direction, California Republican activists were courted Saturday by a quintet of White House hopefuls, equally split among themselves over how best to pull the party from its malaise.

John McCain called for a non-hostility pact among candidates, a proposal promptly rejected by Lamar Alexander and Steve Forbes. Alan Keyes and Gary Bauer called for an unstinting stand against abortion; McCain and Alexander sought to downplay the issue.

The semiannual gathering of GOP troops in Sacramento gave the raft of prospective Republican contenders--absent the two front-runners--a chance to introduce themselves to the party’s most loyal legions and, by extension, to voters in a state newly empowered by an early position in the presidential selection process.

It also marked the first time state GOP activists have gathered to stir the ashes and sift the rubble after November’s election rout, which saw Republicans lose seats in the Legislature and surrender the governor’s office for the first time in 16 years.

The goal of advancing California’s laggard primary from June to March 7, 2000, was to draw candidates from their perennial stomping grounds of Iowa and New Hampshire and force them to campaign out West. It worked for one weekend, more or less.

Notable by their absence were the two prospective candidates sitting atop the polls, Texas Gov. George W. Bush and former Red Cross President Elizabeth Hanford Dole, who passed on a chance to address the 1,200 delegates. As a result, they also missed the battle being waged between conservatives and a cadre of somewhat less conservative insurgents seeking to wrest away control of the state party apparatus. The fight will be resolved today with the election of a new chairman and party officers to serve through the 2000 campaign.

With November’s election debacle hanging like a shroud over an otherwise sunny, spring-like day, party activists hungrily turned their attentions to the prospect of better times ahead. But the undercurrents that have long divided Republicans over sensitive issues such as abortion, as well as the innate need for candidates to distinguish themselves in a crowded field, served to undermine all the hopeful talk of unity and togetherness.

McCain, who styles himself a western maverick cut from the same rough-hewn cloth as Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan, laid down a marker by urging his fellow candidates to refrain from personal attacks and negative campaigning.

“As we begin the 2000 campaign, let’s remember that the day Ronald Reagan first declared the 11th commandment, I will speak ill of no fellow Republican, he began the restoration of the Republican Party,” McCain said in a Friday night dinner speech that kicked off the candidate parade. He repeated that message at a Saturday news conference.

“Scorched-earth Republican primaries will lead directly to an Al Gore presidency and to Democratic control of both houses of Congress,” McCain told his banquet audience.

Repeatedly, McCain called for an end to the “politics of division”--”we’re a better party than that”--and explicitly reached out to immigrant Americans, saying no one should believe the American dream is too small for them to share and “no one should believe that we scorn their contributions to our culture.”

The pronounced silence that greeted McCain’s remarks reflected the tensions surrounding issues such as immigration and affirmative action, which have served to both energize Republicans activists and, at the same time, alienate many outside the party.

Paul Fredrix, a convention delegate from West Hollywood and self-described moderate, praised McCain’s talk of inclusion. But he added: “It won’t work with this audience. They’re the ones that brought us last November.”

McCain’s non-aggression proposal proved no more popular with his fellow candidates.

Forbes, a repeat candidate who ran a series of scathingly negative ads in 1996 attacking Bob Dole, the eventual GOP nominee, insisted to reporters: “I’ve never engaged in personal attacks on my opponents. I have always engaged in issues, principles, and if I run, that’ll be the modus operandi again.”

For his part, former Tennessee Gov. Alexander told reporters “we don’t need to act like we are at some tea party. We need to have a vigorous contest of ideas.”

There was no substantive disagreement among the candidates over abortion. All describe themselves as “pro-life.” Still, there was marked division over how prominent a role the issue should play as part of the GOP message in 2000.

The pyrotechnics on Saturday were supplied by Keyes, a radio talk show host and another repeat candidate, who opened a morning gathering of county party chairmen by declaring: “We know Bill Clinton is a liar. The question today is, is Bill Clinton a rapist?” Keyes was referring to 21-year-old sexual assault allegations, nationally broadcast this month, that Clinton has denied through his attorney.

Keyes, who has made anti-abortion activism the central issue of his political career, warned Republicans that compromise on issues like abortion and morality amounts to capitulation. Waver, he told party leaders, and “you will help Bill Clinton toss this country down the toilet of history.”

Bauer, former head of the Family Research Council, a policy lobbying group, echoed the sentiment. “We must never abandon the pro-life cause,” he told cheering delegates. “Give up on the fight for life, and you are giving up the heart and soul of the Republican Party.”

But Alexander, who followed Bauer to the podium, counseled fellow Republicans--without specifically mentioning abortion--to “start with what we agree on and build from there, rather than start with what we disagree on. . . . Instead of laying down litmus tests and rigid pronouncements, reach out to others with whom we agree.”

McCain, for his part, told reporters he favors a party platform that tells voters “there is plenty of room in our party” for supporters and opponents of abortion rights.

Former Vice President Dan Quayle struck a middle ground. In an interview with The Times before his Saturday night address, Quayle acknowledged that abortion was “an issue . . . of great interest to a lot of people.” But he argued that “there’s very little a president can do” to curtail abortions, beyond appointing sympathetic judges and signing legislation that Clinton has twice vetoed to ban certain late-term abortions.

Rather, Quayle said he planned to focus on his proposal for a 30% across-the-board tax cut. “I’m going to put it right back up there on the charts where it belongs,” Quayle said. “The most important issue right now--that’s tax cuts.”

On most issues, the candidates chorused familiar themes of lower taxes, less government and a more muscular defense and foreign policy. Forbes outlined a 17% “flat tax” proposal; Bauer called for a 16% flat tax.

McCain attacked pork barrel spending, by Democrats and Republicans alike, pointedly citing a $1.1-million manure removal project in Mississippi--the home state of GOP Senate Leader Trent Lott--as a particularly egregious example. Alexander called for tax cuts to strengthen families and other reforms to boost public education, such as ending teacher tenure.

Another presidential candidate, New Hampshire Sen. Bob Smith, is set to address delegates at today’s closing session.

Texas Gov. Bush was a distant presence, reflected in the lapel stickers worn by supporters and the gossip and speculation passed in the hallways and watering holes clotted with campaign operatives. As many as 300 Bush supporters staged an afternoon rally at a pizza joint around the corner from the downtown convention center.

“He’s acknowledged the contribution Latinos have made to the state of Texas,” said Tim Sanchez, chairman of the state Republican National Hispanic Assembly. “By acknowledging them, he’s made them feel welcome in the Republican Party, in contrast to what we’ve seen in California the last eight years.”

Times political writer Ronald Brownstein contributed to this report.