PHILADELPHIA. -- Thousands packed the festive First Union Center to embrace ideals, praise candidates and await the arrival of Texas Gov. George W. Bush at the Republican National Convention.
A diverse group of speakers stressed the importance of education and military spending to an enthusiastic and often rambunctious crowd.
Addresses from Gen. Colin Powell, Laura Bush - wife of George W. Bush - and special appearances by country music singer Hank Williams, Jr. and television personality Ben Stein highlighted Monday night's educational theme of "Leave No Child Behind."
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At Tuesday night's session, Arizona Sen. John McCain, 1996 Republican presidential candidate and former Kansas Sen. Bob Dole, former National Security Council member Condoleezza Rice and salutes to former Republican presidents caused the delegates to reflect upon the importance of the military in the country's past, present and future.
McCain called upon party members to "get riled up a bit" and begin accepting the responsibilities of service that go along with America's position in the world.
If elected, Bush will not "allow America to retreat behind ... false promises and uncertain diplomacy," McCain said.
During the remarks on education, giving all parents the power to decide where their children will attend school was a focal point endorsed by both Laura Bush and Pilar Gomez, a mother from Milwaukee, Wisc., and a registered Democrat.
Gomez pointed out that though she was a Democrat, "party lines fade" on the issue of parental choice in children's education, adding that with George W. Bush as president she would worry less about her children's future.
Powell strongly supported education as the only way to cure the many ills facing the country.
"We must get back to building our children the way we know how - or we will keep building jails," Powell said. "Education is the key to breaking the cycle of poverty in America."
In an address broadcast to the delegates from the deck of the U.S.S. New Jersey, Gen. Norman Schwartzkopf said freedom was not a given, but something that had to be fought and paid for.
"Without [the armed forces] there would be no liberty," Schwartzkopf said, stressing that Americans must make sure the armed forces are as well prepared and taken care of now as they were in 1991's Operation Desert Storm.
Intertwined with the messages of hope and visions for the future were declarations that placing George W. Bush in the White House would restore the prestige that once occupied the presidency.
As she endorsed Bush's nominaton Rice said America's success "begins with integrity in the Oval Office."
Laura Bush said parents tell her husband, "I'm counting on you - I want my son or daughter to respect the president of the United States."
Speakers on both Monday and Tuesday nights reflected a wide variety of races and economic status, which some attendees said is reflective of the changing composition of the Republican Party. Of Monday night's 18 speakers, only two were white, Christian males.
The only openly gay Republican member of Congress, Arizona Rep. Jim Colby, addressed the convention on the issue of free trade. The Texas delegation previously had threatened to walk out if Colby spoke, but instead remained seated without incident.
"The current administration is failing U.S. workers - they too often put politics in front of good policy," Colby said. Electing Bush is "not just a matter of commerce, but a matter of conscience."
Larry J. Sabato, University government and foreign affairs professor, said the representation of minorities would not go unnoticed by the public when viewing the events of the convention.
Sabato said the convention is very similar to the one held in 1972, when Richard Nixon was nominated for a second term.
"It's going precisely as they scripted it," he said. In 1972, "there was nothing spontaneous about it, and it worked."
He added that the comments about presidential character serve the Republicans well.
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