by Jean-Louis Doublet
NEW YORK, Sept 1 (AFP) - The Republican party is solidly behind President George W. Bush in his quest to win a new White House term, but divisions between conservatives and moderates remain near the surface.
"They are united because they have a Republican president and they want him to be reelected," said Stephen Hess, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. "If he loses, you will see a good deal of this factionalism emerge."
The party agenda adopted at the Republican national convention here this week is expected to take up many conservative Bush campaign themes; including social issues like opposition to abortion and gay marriage.
While moderates such as Senator John McCain, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani have been given centre-stage at the convention, all have been careful to avoid sensitive issues.
At the moment, Bush faces no opposition from within Congress and there was no challenge for the party nomination. Republicans currently control the Senate with 51 seats, against 48 for the Democrats and one independent. They have 229 seats in the House of Representatives, against 204 for the Democrats.
But the November 2 presidential election, which pits Bush against Democratic rival John Kerry, will be accompanied by votes for all of the House and a third of the Senate.
The president is now taking advantage of decade-old changes in the Republican party.
After his father, George Bush, lost the 1992 election to Bill Clinton, a new generation of economically liberal but socially conservative Republicans took control of the party and won seats in Congress in 1994.
The Republicans took control of the House for the first time in almost 40 years and seized back the Senate which had been Democratic since 1986.
The younger Bush seemed to be the party's unity candidate when he won the nomination in 2000 with his "compassionate conservative" message that carried him to victory against the Democrats' Al Gore.
The Republicans briefly lost the Senate in 1991 when one party member became an independent but under Bush's leadership the 2002 Congress elections saw the Senate won back and the House majority increased.
He has since navigated a careful path between party hawks and moderates, even though he has made no secret of his opposition to abortion and has proposed amending the constitution to make same-sex marriages illegal.
Republicans hope they can make more gains in Congress this year. But few think they will get the 60 Senate seats necessary to name conservative court judges that are currently blocked by Democrats.
"He's not going to get 60 seats in the Senate," predicted Hess.
And as the constitution limits any president to two terms, there will inevitably be a political battle to be the Republican candidate for 2008 which will erupt anytime from 2006.
Social policy is not the only source of discord. The budget deficit, which has mushroomed during the Bush years, angers fiscal conservatives and the president's moves to protect the US steel industry have upset free-trade advocates.