ome praised it as the beginning of a new era of "compassionate conservatism." Others branded it a glitzy infomercial heavy on rhetorical bluster, but lacking in substance. Either way, the Republican National Convention reached its crescendo last Thursday night as delegates made it official, and gave Texas George W. Bush and former Representative Dick Cheney nominations to head the year 2000 national ticket.

   There were few surprises. The Bush organization already had the presidential nomination locked up and the governor's closest primary opponent, Arizona Sen. John McCain, willingly complied with demands that he support the ticket. There were no floor fights, and even inside of the Platform Committee hearings, it was smooth sailing for most of the proposals. In the First Union Center, all was a happy picture of unity and scripted pageantry, complete with "the largest balloon drop" in convention history-- 150,000 red, while and blue balloons, along with hundreds of pounds of confetti, poured onto the cheering delegates after Bush concluded his nomination speech.

    The public facade of the convention attempted to cast Bush and the GOP in a new light -- upbeat, inclusive, tolerant, helping and moving toward the political center. Is there any real substance here, though?

   ¶    Convention planners worked hard to ensure that the estimated 25 million or so television viewers saw a "warm and fuzzy" GOP different from the strident, fire-and-brimstone image of past years. As for the party's Christian conservatives and right wing true believers, the Times Union newspaper observed, "They're being kept out of sight as Texas Gov. George W. Bush's strategists bring on a parade of, well, people you wouldn't expect at a Republican convention."

    Pat Robertson, for instance, was carefully sequestered in a generously sized convention skybox high above the arena floor, along with his Christian Broadcasting Network crew. Front and center: former Joint Chief Gen. Colin Powell, who received a polite applause for his defense of affirmative action (four years ago his same plea was met with booing and catcalls. World Wrestling Federation star and pop culture hero Dwayne Johnson, now "The Rock" -- aka "the people's champion" stepped up to the podium on Wednesday night to assist House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill and a former wrestling coach, call the convention to order.

    Some religious conservatives condemned the appearance. L. Brent Bozell II, a modern-day Misery Martin who heads the Hollywood-based Parents Television Council, condemned "The Rock" and the wildly popular WWF "Smackdown" program as violent, anti-woman and even anti-black. In an open letter to the GOP leadership and Speaker Hastert decrying The Rock's appearance, Bozell lamented: "I highly doubt that a man of your character would want to share the podium with (a wrestler) who regularly uses obscene and profane language, has taken metal chairs, a shovel and a sledgehammer to opponents, and refers to women's genitalia in slang berms." Bozell warned that the appearance by the WWF icon would undermine party efforts to reduce television violence and censor music lyrics.

The public facade of the convention attempted to cast Bush and the GOP in a new light -- upbeat, inclusive, tolerant, helping and moving toward the political center. Is there any real substance here, though?

    Not all religious conservatives, though, agreed with Bozell's strident position, or the policy of keeping the cameras away from the party's evangelical-fundamental heavies. Randy Tate, former director of Christian Coalition and now head of GOP affairs for the political web site voter.com, downplayed the decision by convention strategists. "When we were insurgents, it was more important for one of our people to speak," Tate said. "Now religious conservatives are mainstreamed into the party, so there's less of a need to have 'your guy' up there."

   Gary Bauer of the Family Research Council, and a former primary opponent of Bush's, was agreeing to maintain a lower profile, but told reporters that the tone of the year 2000 convention would have been different had he been the nominee. "On election day, voters will not be confused about which party is pro-life and which party is not," Bauer said. "If there is confusion, though, Bush will lose."

   ¶    The whole convention had a pronounced "religion-friendly" tone, but one that catered more to ecumenical diversity than Biblical correctness. The Washington Times noted that the party gathering "presented powerful images of minority faiths, the influence of religion in social reform, and an all-embracing 'big tent' that included bishops and evangelists, but avoids a 'culture war' over religious values."

   On Monday night of the convention, for instance, Rev. Herbert Lusk of the Greater Exodus Baptist Church openly endorsed Bush during a televised address. Critics have already excoriated the move, which could have violated IRS regulations. Lusk, a black clergyman, declared: "We are supporting him (Bush) because we know that he understands that we must give faith a chance.

    Hardly any official gathering during the convention didn't begin and close without some kind of religious prayer or benediction. Thursday evening's nominating session was opened by Rev. Mark Craig, pastor of George W. Bush's United Methodist Church in Dallas, and closed by Philadelphia Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, who last month met with the GOP nominee in a semisecret half-hour confab. Other invocations came from Rabbi Victor Weisburg; Rev. Franklin Graham (president of Samaritan's Purse and son of famed TV evangelist Billy Graham); Archbishop Demetrios of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America; and even Steve Young, former San Francisco 49ers quarterback.

    "That's quite a lineup," said Richard Pierard, author of "Civil Religion and the Presidency." They're covering all bases."

    Rev. Lusk convened a Sunday national panel on "Religious Faith in the Public Square" at his downtown Philadelphia church, where a parade of social experts and clergy extolled the virtues of faith-based "partnerships" between sectarian groups and government.

   ¶    Pat Robertson did not address the GOP convention this year, but his presence loomed large in the background. So did his message -- that his Christian Coalition, despite defections, lawsuits and red ink -- is coming back strong, and will be a major player in the November election. Speaking at a "Faith and Freedom" rally held at a nearby hotel that attracted 3,000 supporters and delegates to the convention, Robertson declared, "I'm so amused when I read these articles that say, 'The Christian Coalition is dead.' I'll tell ya, they ought to put out a story to the fire department here that the largest ballroom in the Marriott Hotel is jam-packed with corpses on Tuesday afternoon -- all cheering, 'Amen!.' "" He pledged that the group would distribute a record 75 million voter guides this fall, and urged members to work hard to put the Bush-Cheney ticket.

Both the party platform and Bush's rousing, presidential-sounding acceptance speech, placed heavy emphasis on religion-right issues like abortion and school prayer, and called for a vast program to integrate sectarian groups into the process of dealing with social problems...

    "We at the Christian Coalition are pledging today and in the days ahead that we're going to fight," Robertson added. "Let's mobilize for a great crusade this fall!"

    There are still reports of division and calamity within the ranks of the coalition, though, which has suffered staff defections, firings, and $3 million in red ink which has been whittled down to about half that amount. The Washington Post quoted former staffers who said that Roberta Combs, the group's executive vice president, had precipitated "the wholesale departure of key operatives." Combs is widely regarded as a savvy organizer though, and told the Post that the Coalition "is in a rebuilding stage ... The body has to regenerate new blood cells."

   ¶    Indeed, Robertson and the Coalition have emerged as the "moderates" on the GOP's religious right wing, encouraging the party faithful to take a long-range view, and use political compromise as a way of achieving objectives. Even Robertson described the GOP's year 2000 fest as "a convention of sweetness and light," adding, "Nobody wants to rock the boat."

    The Christian right has grown more sophisticated and mature in recent years, noted Mike P. Farris, a former organizer for Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority group who was defeated in the 1993 Virginia race for lieutenant governor. Farris noted that while neither Falwell nor Robertson "has the monolithic organization he once had," they deserve much of the credit for energizing Christian evangelicals, and contributing to their political evolution.

   "The movement has matured," Tim Phillips told the Post. Now a partner with former Coalition Director Ralph Reed in the Atlanta-based Century Strategies consulting firm, Phillips added: "The faith-based community realizes that in the end, to make a difference, they have to win elections."

   ¶    The Christian right and GOP moderates are now on board with the same program. "There's a campaign going on right now where the goal is to try to appeal to the voters in the middle," Bush advisory Marvin Olasky said in an interview with Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network. "That means some of the things that were enunciated in the primary campaign are probably not going to be enunciated as strongly over the next several month."

   Celinda Lake, a Democratic Party pollster, suggests that while Christian political activists have matured and still have impact within the national party structure, 'they may find that national politics is less the arena where they can make effective change than at the state and local level on school board elections." Another Christian Coalition supporter agreed with Robertson's incremental, go-slow strategy behind Bush. "I think it's time that we got maybe a little more pragmatic, because we can't pick our candidate and create him out of whole cloth," she said. "We have to take what's offered and choose what's best and choose between the two."

    Olasky, considered the architect of Bush's call for "faith-based partnerships" between government and religion as a way of solving social problems, agreed. "Politics is not like theology," he told his CBN audience. "In theology we want to get things 100 percent correct as best we can. Still, we want to read the Bible and try to apply it to every aspect of life, and we don't want to take just a 50 percent cut at that. We want to go all the way on that. Politics is different."

   ¶    Both the party platform and Bush's rousing, Presidential-sounding acceptance speech, place heavy emphasis on religion-right issues such as abortion and school prayer, and call for a vast program to integrate sectarian groups into the process of dealing with social problems. Indeed, Bush received his loudest applause when he pledge to sign any legislation banning so-called "partial birth" abortion. The GOP platform takes the initiative, in pledging greater involvement for sectarian groups in the administration of social service programs through grants, vouchers and other "charitable choice schemes. This issue -- a potentially new (and dangerous) change in the balance between church and state -- could become a hot issue in election 2000.

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