GOP Turns To Domestic Issues

Republicans are turning to conditions at home after saluting President Bush as a wartime president whose leadership is "rock solid."

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger gets star billing on the second day of the party's convention as the GOP extends its outreach to moderate Democrats and independents.

Tuesday's speakers were expected to proclaim that the United States is on the right track, with a bright future — a theme expected to be driven home by Schwarzenegger, first lady Laura Bush and Education Secretary Rod Paige.

The first lady's topic Tuesday night will be "the compassion of the American people."

"Mrs. Bush is going to offer her personal perspective on the president's leadership over the last four years," said her spokesman, Gordon Johndroe.

Laura Bush has appeared beside her husband during his past campaigns, but is now spending more time at the campaign podium than ever before.

"It's a wonderful privilege to be able to travel around our country and to meet people all over our country," the first lady told CBS News Early Show Co-anchor Harry Smith. "The part that I was reluctant about when George decided to run was the criticism that I know comes in politics.

"You know, that's hard. That's always hard for anybody who loves the candidate."

Paige rose from segregated Mississippi to become the nation's first black education secretary. However, his term has been a bumpy one since he drew anger from teachers for labeling the National Education Association a "terrorist organization."

Schwarzenegger is popular among both Republicans and Democrats, even though the California governor's moderate stands on a variety of social issues have sown distrust among some GOP conservatives.

In Monday's opening session, Republicans invoked the memory of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks — the World Trade Center stood about four miles south of the Garden — as a test of Mr. Bush's mettle as a strong and decisive leader.

"Since September 11th President Bush has remained rock solid," former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said, likening the president to Winston Churchill and Ronald Reagan. "We need George Bush more than ever."

That prompted Democratic Party chief Terry McAuliffe to recall "a certain Churchill quote that, after the last four years, certainly applies to George Bush: `He's a humble man with much to be humble about."'

Democrats and some Sept. 11 victims say Republicans are politicizing a national tragedy. Giuliani denied that, saying Democrats made frequent mention of Sept. 11 at their convention last month in Boston. He said if Republicans did not cite Mr. Bush's response to the tragedy it would be like President Abraham Lincoln not mentioning the Civil War when he ran for re-election in 1864.

"How do we as Republicans defend the president that we think has gone a good job with Sept. 11 without mentioning it?" Giuliani asked during an appearance Tuesday on ABC. "It wouldn't even be a fight with one hand tied behind your back, this would be a fight with two hands tied behind your back.

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry was spending most of the day at his beachfront home in Massachusetts, then flying to Nashville to spend the night. He talks to the American Legion on Wednesday.

On Monday, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., drew enthusiastic cheers — and a standing ovation — when he voiced strong support for his 2000 GOP presidential rival.

McCain heartily endorsed the president's Iraq and anti-terrorism policies, saying the United States had little choice but to invade Iraq.

"Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Not our critics abroad. Not our political opponents. And certainly not a disingenuous filmmaker," McCain said in a clear dig at filmmaker Michael Moore that delighted his audience. Moore, who was sitting in the press section, was roundly booed by the crowd.

Moore's box-office hit, "Fahrenheit 9/11," sharply questions Mr. Bush's motives for invading Iraq. McCain said the filmmaker, whom he did not name, "would have us believe that Saddam's Iraq was an oasis of peace when in fact it was a place of indescribable cruelty, torture chambers, mass graves and prisons that destroyed the lives of the small children held inside their walls."

Scores of "We Salute Our Troops" banners waved as McCain spoke.

McCain did not single out Kerry, a good friend, for criticism.

The delegates on Monday began a three-day process to formally nominate Mr. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney to a second term with a roll call full of home-state bragging and lots of praise for their beloved incumbents. Officials tried to keep secret which state would give Bush the 1,255 delegate votes to seal the nomination. That was likely to come Tuesday night, with the roll ending Wednesday.

On the streets outside the convention, at least 10 arrests were made Monday in a clash between police and protesters attempting to push through barricades. A plainclothes detective was knocked off his scooter and taken to the hospital with head injuries that were not said to be life-threatening.

Mr. Bush, meanwhile, gave Democrats unexpected ammunition when he suggested in a television interview broadcast Monday that the war on terrorism could not be won, forcing his aides to defend his remarks on a day they had hoped he could bask in convention accolades.

Appearing on NBC's "Today," Mr. Bush was asked whether the war on terrorism was winnable. "I don't think you can win it. But I think you can create conditions so that the — those who use terror as a tool are less acceptable in parts of the world," Bush said.

"To suggest that the war on terror can't be won is absolutely unacceptable," said Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and one of a chorus of Democrats denouncing the comments.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan sought to clarify the president's remarks, telling reporters, "He was talking about winning it in the conventional sense ... about how this is a different kind of war and we face an unconventional enemy."

Still, Democrats pounced on the president's remark in hopes of stealing some convention-week spotlight from Republicans. Asked by reporters whether the war on terror could be won, Kerry replied, "Absolutely."