NEW YORK — When former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) were named to headline the Republican National Convention's opening night, most analysts in both parties took it as evidence that President Bush's campaign wanted the gathering to project a message of moderation.
But in their speeches Monday night, Giuliani and McCain signaled that the real mission for the Bush campaign this week was to send a message of strength.
In their emphasis on Bush's determination and resolve, they dramatized how heavily the GOP was betting that many voters uneasy about the president's policy direction would support him for reelection if they believed he could set a steadier course in a turbulent time than his rival, Democrat John F. Kerry.
In one of the evening's most revealing passages, Giuliani argued that voters should assess the two contenders not through an ideological or partisan prism, but above all on their personal qualities of leadership.
"In choosing a president, we don't really choose just a Republican or Democrat, a conservative or a liberal," Giuliani said. "We choose a leader. And in times of danger and war, as we are now in, Americans should put leadership at the core of their decision."
The portrayal of leadership as a value that transcends and trumps ideology represented an effort from the Bush campaign to shift the election debate toward more favorable ground. Polls continue to show the public deeply divided over Bush's key policy decisions, especially the invasion of Iraq.
But surveys also show that more Americans pick Bush than Kerry when asked which one is a strong and determined leader. Bush's fate could turn heavily on whether swing voters place more weight on their doubts about his choices or on their confidence in his tenacity.
"That's the question of the election," said Andrew Kohut, president of the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, an independent polling organization. "Even though he faces significant disapproval for his handling of the economy and Iraq, he continues to hang in there in the race, or even lead, because people have faith in him as a leader at a time when the country prizes leadership."
The emphasis on resolve is not risk-free. Although polls show voters consider Bush more steadfast than Kerry, far more Americans also rate him as more stubborn and inflexible than his rival.
