By Suzanne Dougherty
Congressional Quarterly

Electoral votes: 8

Delegates: 40

Chairman: Bob Beauprez

Hotel: Marriott (215) 625-2900

1996 Election:
Dole – 46%
Clinton – 44%
Perot – 7%

A fight for dominance between social conservatives and less ideological activists has been a fact of life for the Colorado Republican Party for the past two decades.

A fight for dominance between social conservatives and less ideological activists has been a fact of life for the Colorado Republican Party for the past two decades.

And while delegates in many states this year are playing down their differences in an effort to unify the party around its presidential candidate, Texas Gov. George W. Bush, the political fault lines are a little more obvious in Colorado. It appears that the players in the state's GOP are not as anxious to put old issues and animosities aside en route to Philadelphia.

All 40 of Colorado's delegates are going to the national convention as Bush supporters. Bush won 65 percent of the vote to Arizona Sen. John McCain's 27 percent in a primary on March 10, three days after the big primary day on which Bush clinched the nomination.

Although Colorado's proportional distribution rules entitled Bush to just 28 delegates, the McCain camp essentially ceded its 12 delegates to Bush.

Despite their allegiance to a single candidate, though, the Colorado delegates are hardly unified on key issues. Organizations such as the Christian Coalition and the Rocky Mountain Gun Owners were present at the state convention, where they lobbied in favor of delegates who consider themselves abortion opponents and gun advocates. They succeeded in getting a sizable contingent of social conservatives elected to the delegate slate.

At-large delegate Kendall Unruh, a media spokeswoman for the Christian Coalition, said in June that 28 of the delegates had signed pledges that they would vote at the convention for re-adopting the 1996 anti-abortion platform plank and would only support a vice presidential candidate who opposed abortion rights.

Unruh said then that she would walk out of the convention if Bush were to choose a vice presidential nominee who favored abortion rights. "That is the only way I know of to demonstrate my displeasure with the selection," she said. And she maintained that she had talked to at least 17 other delegates who said they would do the same.

Other delegates argue, however, that this stance does not represent the majority of Republican voters in Colorado.

"The delegation seems to represent the hard core of the right wing of the Republican Party," said alternate delegate Bob Greenlee, a former Boulder mayor and the narrowly unsuccessful 1998 Republican House nominee against Democrat Mark Udall in the 2nd Congressional District. "Whether that truly represents the center of the party is doubtful."

Most of the delegates interviewed by Congressional Quarterly agreed that they would not let their differences over abortion override their desire to help Bush capture the White House. "Our delegation historically has a lot of real conservatives, that is nothing unique or unusual," said state Republican Chairman Bob Beauprez, who also is chairing the Republican convention delegation. "But in the end, I don't think anything will trump our enthusiasm for Bush."

COLORADO NOTABLES: Gov. Bill Owens; state Republican Chairman Bob Beauprez, the delegation chairman; state House Majority Leader Doug Dean; state Senate Assistant Majority Leader Ken Chlouber; Republican National Committeeman Bob Martinez; Bob Greenlee, an alternate delegate who is a former mayor of Boulder and was the 1998 2nd Congressional District candidate.