Bush and Cheney head toward Philadelphia as party vanguard makes preparations

SPRINGDALE, Arkansas (CNN) -- Wending their way to the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia, presidential hopeful George W. Bush and his running mate Dick Cheney poked fun at President Clinton on his home turf Friday.

Bush seemed intent on playing up his support for Cheney, whose voting record as a one-time lawmaker has been assailed consistently by Democrats since the Texas governor named him to the GOP ticket on Tuesday.

Laura and George W. Bush were well received at a campaign rally in Springdale, Arkansas on Friday.

"This man is a good man," Bush said of Cheney. "He's a solid man. He's a man who understands what the definition of 'is' is," the Texas governor added to loud replies from the crowd assembled at Springdale, in Clinton's home state of Arkansas.

Bush has used the "is" reference -- a jab at one of Clinton's better-known legal evasions during the Monica Lewinsky scandal -- on more than one occasion since he tapped Cheney as his No. 2 on the Republican 2000 ticket. Bush's Arkansas audience hooted its approval and shouted, "No more Slick Willie!"

While Bush is gearing up for a run into November's general election against Vice President Al Gore, he has tried to link Gore with Clinton, a former Arkansas governor, whenever he can.

"We're on our way to Philadelphia," Bush told the campaign rally at a Springdale high school. "Glad we were able to make a stop in Arkansas."

Arkansas is one of six states the Republican duo plans to visit before arriving at the convention. Clinton and Gore carried those six states -- which carry a total of 74 electoral votes -- in both the 1992 and 1996 elections, but Republicans believe they can win them this year. The other five states expecting visits from Bush and Cheney are Missouri, Kentucky, Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.

For the fourth straight day, Bush praised Cheney even as Democrats continued their issue-oriented attacks on the former defense secretary and Wyoming congressman.

"Not only is he going to be a great partner on the campaign trail, this man is going to be a fabulous vice president of the United States," Bush said.

Democrats have targeted Cheney's mid-1980s House votes against abortion rights, funding for Head Start, gun control, and a 1986 resolution that called for the release of Nelson Mandela from a South African prison as evidence that he is too conservative.

Mark Fabiani, a deputy campaign manager for Vice President Gore.

"Cheney is a card-carrying member of the old guard," said Mark Fabiani, a deputy campaign manager for Democratic presidential candidate Gore. "Some of his past votes are hard to explain away in any era."

In Philadelphia, even as they made final preparations for Monday's convention kick-off, GOP officials rejected suggestions that Cheney's voting record didn't jibe with Bush's long-held message of "compassionate conservatism."

"Those of us who know Dick Cheney know how compassionate he is," said Andrew Card, co-chairman of the Republican National Convention.

Convention vanguard makes final preparations

As Bush and Cheney plied the highways of Arkansas on Friday, the vanguard of the Republican faithful settled down in Philadelphia to do much of the party's heavy lifting before festivities officially commence Monday.

While members of Philadelphia's police force practiced Friday for confrontations with convention protesters that many present in Philadelphia believed inevitable, confrontations of another sort flared up in the party's platform meetings as pro-choice activists sought to have their stance on abortion included in the Republicans' defining policy document.

Meeting at the Philadelphia Convention Center, just two miles away from the First Union Center, the event's main site, members of the family and community platform subcommittee turned back efforts by abortion rights activists to either soften or outrightly remove language calling for "legislative and judicial" protection for the unborn.

Two amendments advanced by the activists were rejected by the subcommittee on Friday morning, before the full platform committee met on Friday afternoon to approve the final version of the document.

Representatives of the pro-choice Republican groups said they would take their fight to the full committee and then to the floor if they had to, arguing that the views of "thousands and thousands of pro-choice Republican men and women" were not accorded enough respect and understanding by the party organization.

Later on Friday, the convention's rules committee squelched a proposal to revamp the presidential primary schedule, a move that aimed to provide small states -- who influence is now somewhat limited during the primary season -- a stronger voice in the course of a lengthened selection process.

By a 66-33 vote, the rules committee killed the so-called Delaware plan, which had won preliminary approval earlier this week. Many Republicans said the current primary elections calendar, in which many large states hold their primaries in February and March, results in the party's nominee effectively chosen before many primary voters across the country get a chance to participate in the process.

"No one wants to go to the polling place after a presumptive nominee has gotten all the delegates," said Basil Battaglia, state Republican chairman in Delaware.

"The biggest problem is that the Democrats will not go along," said party activist Charlie Black in response. "They will keep their current primary calendar, which means their nominee will emerge in March, while the Republicans continue to fight until May or June."

A fluffier, less stuffy GOP gathering

A good deal of consideration has been granted to Bush's efforts to recast the image of the Republican Party as he continues his campaign for the White House, and convention organizers have lined up an electric slate of entertainers and celebrity guests to appear throughout next week's four-day event, to reflect the party's ideological push for inclusiveness.

Gov. Bush's Arkansas audience hooted its approval for him and shouted, "No more Slick Willie!"

"It's a different kind of convention, because we have a different kind of candidate running for president," said convention organizer Card on Friday.

Different -- the convention's list of celebrities who could make an appearance runs an eclectic gamut, from sports figures, a pair of Miss Americas, film stars and musicians old and new, and one of the most recognized pro-wrestlers to break out of syndicated television into the forefront of the nation's pop-culture consciousness.

Film luminaries Bo Derek and Bruce Willis, retired San Francisco 49ers quarterback Steve Young, singers Chaka Khan, Lee Greenwood and Jon Secada, and one-time Miss Americas Heather Whitestone and Nicole Johnson are among the celebrities who have committed to participate in the convention.

Card said pro-wrestler "The Rock" will open next Wednesday evening's proceedings. He will be followed by House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Illinois, a former high school wrestling coach.