Political Platforms

As an abortion-rights advocate, Deborah Allen did not think she would find much in common with Mitt Romney. Then she heard his pitch. If elected Massachusetts governor, Romney said in an endorsement meeting, he would "preserve and protect" legal abortion. The judges he picked would probably do the same. And then he said something so unexpected that Allen began to see Romney, a Republican whom she had considered an uncertain ally, as sincere in his search for common ground.

Faced with the durability of Rudolph W. Giuliani's lead in the Republican presidential race, his rivals are stoking new debate on whether the party should accept a White House nominee who favors abortion rights. If he prevails, the former New York mayor would be the party's first White House nominee in a generation to support abortion rights during his campaign.

Rudolph W. Giuliani sought Friday to recover from his stumbles on abortion, an effort that underscored the trouble faced by top Republican presidential candidates as they try to remake their images to strengthen appeals to social conservatives. The weeklong dust-up over Giuliani's abortion stance has also made what was already an unsettled race for the Republican nomination even more so.

For months, top Republicans running for president have been striking the same three notes: They champion small government, a strong military and, in most cases, traditional values. That formula has propelled GOP victories for a generation. But increasingly, scholars and political strategists are casting doubt on its value in the 2008 race for the White House.

Two powerful blocs among Democrats -- organized labor and liberal activists -- heard several of the party's presidential contenders pledge allegiance Thursday to a progressive agenda more sweeping than would have seemed politically palatable not long ago. The candidates' liberal chorus about the war in Iraq, gay rights, healthcare and labor issues was a testament to the Democratic left wing's growing strength since the Republican rout in the 2006 midterm election.

John Edwards, the second-try presidential candidate with the third-place campaign, walked on to Mariah Crenshaw's lawn this week, surrounded by a mini-circus of reporters and cameras. The mannequin-perfect looks of 2004 were still there. So was that North Carolina accent -- the one that is to ears what sweet pickles are to tongues. "Nice to see yew," said the candidate, shaking Crenshaw's hand. "I'm lookin' forward to talkin'."

Sensing an opportunity to impress religious voters -- and tip elections -- Democrats in Congress and on the campaign trail have begun to adopt some of the language and policy goals of the antiabortion movement. For years, the liberal response to abortion has been to promote more accessible and affordable birth control as well as detailed sex education in public schools. That's still the foundation of Democratic policies.

Politicians of both parties trooped into Boston's historic Faneuil Hall as a fife and drum corps played. Business titans stood alongside labor and religious leaders. Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney even welcomed the man who had once been his bitter foe in a U.S. Senate contest -- Democratic lion Edward M. Kennedy.

When Rudolph W. Giuliani was diagnosed with prostate cancer in the spring of 2000, one thing he did not have to worry about was a lack of medical insurance. Today, the former New York mayor joins two other cancer survivors in seeking the Republican presidential nomination: Arizona Sen. John McCain has been treated for melanoma, the most serious type of skin malignancy, and former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson had lymphoma, a cancer of the immune system.

Finally, nearly five years into the Iraq war, John McCain sees vindication at hand. More than any other candidate for president, McCain has tied his fortunes to support for sending more U.S. troops into the unpopular war. Now that violence in Iraq has waned after a troop buildup, McCain wants some credit.