This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2004, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

NEW YORK - Monday's prime-time speaker for the Republican National Convention, Rudy Giuliani, signed the law legalizing same-sex civil unions in New York City, is pro-choice and supports partial-birth abortions.

Tonight's headliner, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, also supports abortion rights, backs the gun-control provisions of the Brady Bill, is in favor of medicinal use of marijuana and approves of creating domestic partnerships for gays.

So who can fault some members of Utah's delegation for wondering if they really are at the Republican national convention?

After all, a Democrat - Sen. Zell Miller of Georgia - will deliver Wednesday's keynote address to GOP faithful gathered in Madison Square Garden.

The political soft-focus lineup is a calculated effort by President Bush's campaign strategists to reclaim the "compassionate conservative" ground that helped Bush in 2000, and to appeal to the small but critical segment of the American population known as swing voters, most of whom are moderates.

That's the strategy, and Utah delegates admit it's politically astute. But that doesn't mean they're standing on their chairs screaming support for the speakers taking the stage the first few nights.

"We are doing exactly what the left wing did at the Democratic convention when John Kerry and John Edwards talked about Ronald Reagan and all the wonderful support for the military - those guys were throwing up in the audience," said Utah GOP Party Chairman Joe Cannon. "I don't know that we'll be throwing up, but we have to just say, 'Look, to win, we are going to have to have more people than our base.' ''

Moving toward the middle is a ploy both parties are using this election, facing a nation seemingly divided evenly and deeply over Bush versus Kerry. But Democratic strategist Tad Devine of the Kerry-Edwards campaign questions whether moderates will buy the Bush compassionate conservative label a second time after a presidency marked by restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, reducing access to abortions and seeking to amend the U.S. Constitution to ban gay marriage.

"It's very interesting at the Republican convention that all the people they want America to hear at the beginning of the convention are basically the people that they never listen to in terms of policy choices," said Devine. "Whether or not the president is going to convince people he's now going to start listening to them is going to be interesting, and it presents some challenges to the base of his own party."

Where the social conservatism that Utah's delegation typifies finds some solace is in the 2004 Republican Party platform, which delegate Don Ruzicka, of Highland, was reading between speeches and musical numbers on the floor Monday.

"The platform does contain very solid social conservative values and I find that very encouraging," said Ruzicka, whose family helps lead the conservative Eagle Forum in Utah and whose wife, Gayle, served on the national platform committee. "It doesn't make us very happy they are featuring all these people that are quite a bit more liberal in their social views, but we don't have any control over that."

Seated just one row toward the stage from Ruzicka in the Connecticut delegation seats, Jack Orchulli is the kind of Republican this moderate-loaded GOP convention is aiming to help. Orchulli is challenging Democratic incumbent U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd in the left-leaning Northeastern state, and he is a vocal opponent of one of the keystone issues for social conservatives this election: banning same sex marriage.

''Clearly, on social issues the national Republican Party is more conservative than Connecticut,'' said Orchulli. ''There is no justification to have a constitutional amendment to control peoples' lives.''

Utah's delegates must bite their lips on rebutting such arguments from fellow Republicans for now, while trusting the party will remain true to its social conservative base when it comes time for setting policy.

''In an election this tight, in a nation this divided, you can't just run from the ideological part of the party,'' said Cannon. ''It's a bigger tent and these guys are part of our party. They all have 'R's after their names.''