TEHRAN If you closed your eyes and listened, you might have confused this week's Republican Party convention for the democratic one, commentators here agreed.
With all the talk of education, affirmative action, and racial diversity, it seemed as if the new-look Republican Party had stolen the Democrats' clothes, AFP reported.
One of the Star speakers, General Colin Powell, former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, even urged the party that likes to portray itself as tough on crime to focus on the social roots of crime rather than punishment.
"If you want to solve the problem of violence and crime on our streets, it begins with U.S. teaching children to value life, their own and others, and to have respect for themselves and for others," he said.
"We either build our children or we build more jails," he told delegates in Philadelphia on Monday.
"This is the biggest masquerade ball I've ever seen," said Molly Bess Malcolm, a former Texan Republican turned Democrat, who headed up the Democrat's rebuttal team in Philadelphia.
"There were more minorities on the stage on Monday night than there was in the audience," she pointed out dismissing the Republicans' message of inclusivity as so much window dressing.
Latinos, native Americans, blacks and Asian-Americans were featured heavily on the first night of the convention to underline the fact that the party wants to reach out to minorities which until now have been largely democratic constituencies.
In contrast, a poll by the New York Times found that most delegates were white (89 percent), mostly male and middle aged, and more likely to be lawyers and business executives than teachers or farmers.
Malcolm, who chairs the Texas Democratic Party, contended the talk of a "big tent," the value of education, and the glossy images of multiculturalism were designed to "blur the lines between the two parties." The more hardline figures in the party: Former House of Representatives speaker, Newt Gingrich, and arch-religious Conservative Jerry Falwell were simply marginalized this time round, she said.
But Republican commentators argued the kinder, gentler tone was a product of Texan Governor George W. Bush's efforts to reshape his party around his compassionate conservatism ideology.
"There's no question that the Republican Party is striving to project a mainstream, moderate image," said Mike Murphy, Republican political consultant and former advisor to erstwhile Republican presidential would-be, Senator John McCain.
"The convention has been full of mainstream issues that both parties care about ... Democrats don't have a monopoly on education," he noted acerbically.
Sociologist Jeff Manza, from Chicago's northwestern university, said the tone of the gathering marked a shift to the center in a crude attempt to win over the independent voters who could hold the key to victory in November's general elections.
The Republicans were bent on projecting a "moderate, centrist image." "They have read the same poll data as everybody else," said Manza, author of a book on post-war voting behavior in the United States, called "Social Cleavages and Political Change." Inevitably that brought the grand old party closer to the Democrats who have moved substantially to the center over the last decade, he said.
"The budget surplus has allowed the two parties to find common ground on a range of issues, including social programs that support working families and even in the future a possible tax-cut for the middle class," he explained.
The congressional budget office estimates that the surplus excluding social security funds will soar to 84 billion this year.
But Manza gave the Republicans low marks for authenticity.
"This was the most stage-managed convention ever," said Manza.
"The entire thing felt so cynical to me." Privately a senior Republican marketing figure admitted that "It was depressingly saccharin, more so this year than usual...
There was a concerted drive to push warmed-over democratic themes."