By Emily Pierce
Congressional Quarterly

Electoral votes: 8

Delegates: 30

Chairman: Cindy McCain

Hotel: Sofitel (215) 569-8300

1996 Election:
Clinton – 47%
Dole – 44%
Perot – 8%

If supporters of Sen. John McCain's strong but failed presidential bid were still harboring hard feelings toward Republican victor George W. Bush, the Arizona delegation would surely be a place to find them.

After all, McCain's dominant performance in his home state's Feb. 22 primary - he took 60 percent of the vote - netted him all 30 delegates and 30 alternates. And he did that in spite of Bush's decision to fight on McCain's turf: Running with the endorsement of Arizona Republican Gov. Jane Dee Hull, Bush spent $2 million on television ads in the state before the primary.

Yet the Arizona delegates seem to have put aside animosities over Bush's hard-nosed tactics against their local hero.

"Sometimes things happen in campaigns that linger for a while," said Malcolm Barrett, a delegate and the Yavapai County Republican chairman. "But I think [ill feelings] stay with the candidates longer than with supporters." Efforts to bind the party's wounds were abetted by McCain's endorsement of Bush during a joint news conference May 9. Bush additionally offered McCain an olive branch in June by assuring him a prime-time speech slot on Aug. 1, the Tuesday night of the convention.

The healing process also was advanced by Hull, who had her own damage control to do after embarrassing McCain and angering his loyalists with her early endorsement of Bush.

Bettina Nava, a McCain delegate and director of his Hispanic outreach campaign in the state, said she anticipated tension at the state party convention in May.

But Hull smoothed things over at the convention by nominating McCain's wife, Cindy, as the delegation chairman, said Nava. Traditionally, the governor would lead the state delegation.

"I think [the delegates] all feel strongly that we have a common purpose now, and that we are no longer fighting battles between Sen. McCain and Gov. Bush," said delegate Dennis Booth, who also serves as the Yuma County Republican chairman.

The only major possible clash that delegates in the mainly conservative Arizona contingent foresaw was over Bush's choice of a vice presidential candidate.

In an interview in June, Nava said abortion could resurface as an issue "depending on the rumblings of who George Bush's running mate will be." Through early summer, Bush had declined to rule out a vice presidential candidate who supported abortion rights.

Otherwise, the delegation appeared to agree with Bush's plan to stand by platform language opposing abortion while urging both anti-abortion activists and abortion rights supporters in the party to tone down their rhetoric in Philadelphia.

Most delegates said their top priority at the convention would be to support Bush, but they are prepared to cast their first vote for McCain. After the largely symbolic roll call vote, the delegates will then probably be released by McCain to cast a unanimous vote for Bush as the nominee.

Generally, the delegation represents a "pretty good mix" of Republican ideologies, said state party executive director Nathan Sproul.

Eleven delegates are state lawmakers and six others are county or municipal leaders. The other delegates and alternates include county party chairmen and local activists.

The list includes controversial Maricopa County (Phoenix) Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who is best known for his cost-cutting gambit of placing inmates from the county's overcrowded prison in tents outside the jail on the edge of the Sonoran Desert.

Although state party officials declined to state an exact number, the delegation also includes a fair number of Hispanics - a must if the GOP ticket is to have any hopes of achieving Bush's much-stated goal of reaching out to this usually Democratic-voting constituency. Hispanics make up nearly 20 percent of the state's population.

ARIZONA NOTABLES: Delegation Chairman Cindy McCain, wife of Sen. John McCain; Gov. Jane Dee Hull; state Senate President Brenda Burns; state House Speaker Jeff Groscost; Arizona Secretary of State Betsey Bayless; Arizona Republican Party Chairman Mike Minnaugh; Tucson Mayor Bob Walkup; Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.