Conservatives Ready To Battle McCain on Convention Platform

Republican presidential candidate John McCain and wife Cindy are greeted by Larry Abrams as they walk into worship service at the North Phoenix Baptist Church in Phoenix. (By Carolyn Kaster -- Associated Press)

One main concern is immigration. The current plank on that issue calls for a temporary-worker program, something that both Bush and McCain have supported but that many conservatives view as unwarranted amnesty for people who arrived in the country illegally. Echard would like a much tougher position and is wary of McCain on the issue.

"Our job is to make sure that the grass roots continue to have a say," she said.

Activists are also watching closely what the platform says about the environment. The current document has only one paragraph about global warming, which talks about using "markets and new technologies" to solve the problem of climate change, and states that the United States "strongly opposes" the Kyoto Protocol to curb emissions globally.

That contrasts sharply with McCain's message on the campaign trail. Government action to address global warming is a centerpiece of his campaign. He supports a cap-and-trade emissions plan that many conservatives oppose, and he has talked about trying to reach a global-emissions agreement that includes China and India.

"It is something that we are very concerned with," said Donald J. Devine, vice chairman of the American Conservative Union, which will have a convention operation to monitor proposed changes to the platform. In past years, the ACU has produced an alternative conservative platform as a guide to those working on the real one.

Devine said he is hopeful that the environmental planks in the platform will focus on McCain's support for nuclear power plants and his willingness to revisit offshore oil and gas drilling. But he is prepared for the worst.

"There's no question it's going to be changed radically," he said of the platform.

Most platform fights at Republican conventions have centered around abortion. McCain is campaigning as an abortion opponent, but conservative activists say they will not take anything for granted.

"That is the one issue that we're always ready to fight on," Echard said. "We will never take that plank for granted. We want zero changes in it. We don't want a comma changed. We don't want a word inserted."

Colleen Parro, executive director of the Republican National Coalition for Life, said her group will "cause problems" if McCain or his allies try to change that plank. But she's also focused on stem cell research, an area in which McCain differs with many anti-abortion activists.

The current platform "recognizes" Bush's support for a limited amount of research on embryonic stem cells and praises his opposition to federal funding for the effort. McCain, in contrast, supports embryonic stem cell research, touting his position as evidence of the "straight talk" he offers to conservatives.

"We would very much like to see a resolution passed by the platform committee that would encourage a ban on killing of embryos for their stem cells," Parro said. "If that were introduced, we certainly would hope that Senator McCain would not oppose it."

The one area where activists are not gearing up for a fight is the platform's section on war and terrorism. As an early backer of the war in Iraq, McCain is seen as a consistent supporter of the military.

But he will no doubt want to revamp much of the national security platform. It was written in 2004 and reflects a positive view of Bush's management of the Iraq war -- something that McCain regularly trashes on the campaign trail.

The current document says that "we are proud of the President's steady leadership in executing" the strategy in Iraq. In a recent fundraising appeal, McCain stated that "after four years of a badly mismanaged war, our new strategy is succeeding and we are now winning in Iraq." Almost two pages of the platform are devoted to halting the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

Ebell said McCain should be careful as he and his allies seek to change the platform to reflect his political sensibilities.

"He attracts a lot of votes in the middle -- independents and moderates," Ebell said. But "if he pushes on each one of these issues -- campaign finance, immigration, or global warming and energy issues -- he's likely to keep a lot of people at home on Election Day."