When the lights hit the stage at the Republican Party's convention in Philadelphia tonight, television cameras will focus on a class of mostly Hispano-American students chanting a rap-like routine borrowed from their Houston classroom.
Flying the students to Philadelphia is one way Republicans planning the coronation of Mr George W. Bush hope to pack their events with political messages that market the Texas governor as a candidate who places a premium on education and the plight of poor children.
Republicans hope the line-up's diversity can help the party win more minority voters than usual, especially Hispano-Americans. But the faces being spotlighted at the convention are designed in large part to convey a progressive image to white moderate voters, even as Mr Bush's policies on taxes, abortion and many other issues hew to traditional Republican stands. In this and other ways, Grand Old Party (GOP) leaders are shaping their convention with television in mind, even though the networks are not planning to air more than a scant three to five hours of the four-day affair.
Like producers of an awards show, the architects of the GOP gathering have mapped out camera sight-lines in Philadelphia's First Union Center sports arena and scripted minute-to-minute when applause should start and fade and when music should cue network anchors to cut away for commercial breaks.
A major focus this year is on portraying Mr Bush as a "Big Tent" Republican, shaking off memories of the 1992 convention when Mr Patrick J. Buchanan stole the spotlight from Mr Bush's father by declaring the nation was divided by a "cultural war."
Today's session, for example, will open with an appearance by the only black Republican state lawmaker in Virginia, Assemblyman Paul C. Harris. Tomorrow's speakers include Representative Jim Kolbe, (Arizona), the only openly gay Republican in Congress.
Mr Bush started a six-state tour on Friday that will lead him to the convention. He'll address the gathering via satellite each night before Thursday, when he formally accepts the nomination.
"The governor's kind of your lead character and you wouldn't just have him appear in the fourth act," said Bush media consultant Mr Russ Schriefer. Television reporters chafe at the notion that the party is using its broadcast as an extended advertisement for Mr Bush. The question facing both the parties and networks is whether anyone will watch. Ratings for the conventions have fallen almost steadily since 1980. Only about 16 million households tuned into the party conventions in 1996. A survey released on Thursday by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found that only 34 per cent of the public is interested in following the convention, down from 44 per cent in 1996.