Democrat Zell Miller to deliver GOP's keynote address

WASHINGTON - Same convention hall. Same keynote speaker. Different party.

Same Zell Miller. Different tune.

On Sept. 1, Miller, the Democratic senator from Georgia who is a vocal supporter of GOP President Bush, will return to Madison Square Garden to offer the keynote speech at the Republican National Convention, a job he performed for the Democrats' convention in the arena in 1992.

Back then, Miller was a Georgia governor offering over-the-top praise for Bill Clinton and below-the-belt criticism of the current president's father, George Bush, who was in the Oval Office.

Now, Miller - who became a Bush backer after the 2000 election - is about to become the first politician to keynote the other party's convention. He also will be the first person to offer keynote speeches at both major parties' conventions.

"Last fall I said I would do anything I could to help President Bush be re-elected," said Miller, who did not seek re-election this year. "So if his campaign thinks this is a way that I can be of help, I am honored to do so."

The selection of Miller, who kept his distance from Democratic nominee Al Gore in 2000, was announced Thursday by Republican National Chairman Ed Gillespie.

Also Thursday, Gillespie announced the daily themes for the convention, which will open on Aug. 30 with a message keyed on "the courage of a nation that has seen unprecedented challenges" in recent years. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani will talk about 9/11 heroism and Arizona Sen. John McCain will talk about courage in the military and, said Gillespie, "the commander-in-chief who has led with clarity and conviction in the war on terror."

The convention's second night will key on "compassion of the American People," a message that will be offered by first lady Laura Bush and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Some conservative Republicans are grumbling that the precious prime-time speaking slots have been set aside mostly for moderates who disagree with President Bush on a range of key social issues, including abortion, gay rights and gun control.

A number of conservative Republicans will get podium time outside of the 12 hours of prime time. Among them: Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, Sen. Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina and House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois.

WASHINGTON - Nonparty groups spending millions of dollars in unlimited donations on ads and get-out-the-vote drives in the presidential race will face some new ground rules starting with the 2006 election.

The Federal Election Commission voted 4-2 Thursday to require groups that raise more than $1,000 by telling donors the money will be used to support the election or defeat of a particular presidential or congressional candidate to accept only limited donations from individuals and to divulge their contributions and spending to the FEC.

The commission also placed new spending restrictions on groups that collect both "soft money" - corporate, union and unlimited donations - and so-called hard money, limited donations from individuals.

WASHINGTON - Deal Hudson, publisher of the conservative Catholic magazine Crisis, has resigned as an adviser to the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign because of allegations that he sexually harassed a Fordham University student a decade ago.

Hudson, 54, had been a key player in the Republican Party's effort to attract Roman Catholic voters.

Hudson announced Wednesday in the online edition of National Review magazine that he was leaving his unpaid position in the Bush campaign because "a liberal Catholic newspaper" was about to publish an investigation detailing "allegations from over a decade ago involving a female student at the college where I then taught."

"No one regrets my past mistakes more than I do," Hudson wrote. But the incident is "now being dug up, I believe, for political reasons," he said.

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