HILADELPHIA - Every political convention since Richard M. Nixon's renomination in Miami Beach in 1972 has been scripted, every one has been tightly controlled, every one has tried to show enthusiasm and project unity. But no modern convention has ever been conducted with so little focus on the host party - and so much attention on the opposition.
The Republicans are meeting here in Philadelphia. But they're holding this convention for the Democrats.
As a result, the partisan talk is muffled, the speeches are upbeat, and the delegates are behaving like conscientious objectors in the cultural war the party declared only 12 years ago when it renominated George W. Bush's father at its Houston convention.
This is the least fractious Republican convention in years. The last challenge to Bush ended nearly five months ago. The moderates and religious conservatives are not at each other's throats. GOP strategists figure that every single Republican (or close to it) will vote for the Bush-Cheney ticket.
So, with no need to placate anyone at the convention, all the effort is being placed on wooing independents and Democrats, who, together, could make 2000 Bush's year. That explains the emphasis on minorities, the prominence of women, the talk about education.
''A lot of the issues the Democrats think are theirs,'' said publisher Steve Forbes, a onetime primary rival of Bush's, ''can be ours.''
Sights on rival turf
The partisan talk has been tucked away. Representative Tom Davis of Virginia, the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, attacked Democrats but his fusillade on the floor came at 11:15 in the morning, the convention equivalent of never. Instead, the airwaves were full of conciliatory talk, much of it coming from Bush himself.
''Governor Bush is making an effort, by emphasizing compassion in his conservatism, and from staying away from things like eliminating the Department of Education,'' said Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania. ''He's making gestures to Democrats and independents.''
The Bush effort is all the more striking because of the governor's unusual position in the party, as a quiet voice between the Reagan Revolution and the Gingrich Revolution. The Republicans today are like a forest whose canopy had closed; the shadows cast by Reagan were so great that there was little growth until the Gingrich ascendancy. That makes Bush's march from the middle to the nomination all the more extraordinary - and potentially damaging to the Democrats.
''He has a good ear for melodies that please a lot of people,'' said Marvin Olasky, the leading intellectual troubadour of the Bush movement. Joe Andrew, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, put it this way: ''Their platform is our platform.''
Even Bush's travel schedule reflects the way candidate and party are poaching on their rivals. His route to Philadelphia goes through six states the Republicans lost in the last two elections: Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. ''These are states Republicans have not done well in lately,'' the governor said yesterday in Dayton, Ohio, ''but that's going to change.''
The polls show Bush's opportunity. He leads Vice President Al Gore among such classic Democratic constituencies as older voters and Catholics. He's competitive with women and union members - two groups that Gore should have wrapped up by February. The result is that Gore is less an incumbent or an insurgent than an irredentist. He's got to devote his convention, two weeks from now, to reclaiming lost Democratic territory.
Cheney's soothing effect
Conventions are mostly theater; though commentators often compare them to circuses, in truth the 19th-century impresarios of the American circus learned how to create a spectacle by studying American political conventions. But Team Bush is determined not to create a spectacle this time, and many of his allies, tired of the Clinton years, are willing to cooperate.
Religious conservatives in particular are willing to stay in the background. ''Christian conservatives have matured,'' said Olasky, the high priest of compassionate conservatism. ''Ten years ago they would say they would leave if they didn't bat a thousand. People are willing today to emulate Nomar Garciaparra and say that if they hit .400, that's good.''
The ability of the Bush Republicans to concentrate so heavily on Democrats is the most obvious benefit of the Cheney Effect. By selecting a conservative with well-known antiabortion views, Bush laid to rest the last reservations of religious conservatives.
Dick Cheney may not win Bush a single electoral vote. But he won Bush peace in his party and a chance, without parallel in recent history, to spend his time at his convention winning converts among his rivals.
