US: Just as John Kerry presented himself as a family man in Boston by having his wife and extended family on stage, so too the Republican ticket is softening its hawkish image by putting daughters and granddaughters on show in New York this week, Conor O'Clery in New York.
Vice President Dick Cheney arrived at the Republican convention with his wife, Lynne, his two daughters, Elizabeth and Mary, and three attractive granddaughters to form a family tableau in the VIP section.
The perception of Cheney as "dad" in televised interviews with his daughters no doubt helps counter his sinister image as the ex-Haliburton boss who pushed the President into an unpopular war with unfounded claims about weapons of mass destruction.
Privately some Republicans fear, however, that the balding, soft-spoken VP will not be as telegenic or as winsome in his October 5th televised debate with his opposite number, Senator John Edwards.
President George Bush turns this around by "admitting" in his speeches that while he "isn't the prettiest face on the ticket", he picked Dick Cheney "for his experience and his judgment and because he can get the job done". The preference of a few moderate Republicans would be to drop Cheney and put someone like Colin Powell on the ticket to appeal to swing voters.
But the disillusioned and sidelined Secretary of State, who made a key speech at the 2000 convention in support of Bush, is not even coming to New York, nor, say his friends, is he losing much sleep over that.
The Vice President caused a stir on the eve of the convention when he publicly acknowledged for the first time that his daughter, Mary, who works full time as his director of operations, is lesbian.
Cheney, moreover, went on to disagree with President Bush's advocacy of a constitutional amendment banning gay marriages, saying, "My general view is that freedom means freedom for everyone and people ought to be free to enter into any kind of relationship they want to."
This admission also helped to soften his image at a convention whose organisers appear to assume that the core Republican base, the religious conservatives who put moral and Christian values before anything else, is secure, and that the party should court undecided voters by packaging itself as moderate.
Republicans, as Bill Clinton said it in a sermon from a Manhattan pulpit on Sunday, are putting on their once-every-four-years compassionate face, though Democrats adopted a similar strategy at their convention by assuming that their liberal, anti-war base was secure enough for them to take a "Bush-lite" line in the "war on terror".
Mary Cheney, who lives with her longtime partner, Heather Poe, is not popular with gay rights advocates who see her as selling out by supporting an administration opposed to their agenda. Nor is she a big hit with conservative Republicans.
Cheney's wife, Lynne, a well-known cultural conservative, who denied in 2000 that Mary was openly gay, and Elizabeth Cheney, mother of the three grandchildren, have been given speaking roles at the convention. But not Mary Cheney.
The Republican platform opposes not just gay marriages but same-sex partnerships and civil unions. Conservatives on the platform dictated a provision stating, "We believe that legal recognition and the accompanying benefits afforded couples should be preserved for that unique and special union of one man and one woman".
This has been condemned by the Log Cabin Republicans, a group of gay party members who will will run ads this week attacking the conservative tone of the platform and reminding them of Ronald Reagan's advice that the Republican Party should be a "big tent".
Another gay group, the Human Rights Campaign, will also run ads showing Cheney's remark last week concerning his daughter's sexual orientation, that "people ought to be free to enter into any kind of relationship they want to". Religious conservatives believe that gay people can make a personal decision to become 'straight' but when a Christian activist advised Cheney to pray for his daughter to "urge her away from her aberration", the Vice President gave him a look that "would sizzle your underwear", according to a friend, former Senator Alan Simpson, in the New York Times.
While no acknowledged gay speakers have been invited onto the platform, gospel singer Donnie McClurkin, who once led a bisexual lifestyle but who now supports Mr Bush on amending the constitution, will perform for the President just before his acceptance speech on Thursday.
The President's daughters for their part are giving the Republicans something of a rock 'n' roll image. The 22-year-old twins, Barbara and Jenna, were treated like Hollywood celebrities as they arrived for a Sunday evening party at the Roseland Ballroom in Manhattan. They have just recently begun to publicly campaign for their father.
Tomorrow they will introduce White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card at an event for young Republicans and they will be in the convention for first lady Laura Bush's prime-time speech, and for their father's acceptance speech on Thursday.
Jenna was photographed sticking her tongue out at the media during a campaign stop in Missouri, which enhanced her popularity with Republicans no end.