WASHINGTON – Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (search) will chair the Republican committee that writes the party's platform.
A Republican source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Monday the committee will meet in the coming weeks to draft the document, which sets the party's principles heading into the November election. Delegates to the Republican National Convention (search) in New York will be asked to approve the platform.
Over the years, there has been a tug of war between conservative and moderate Republicans over social policies outlined in the platform.
Frist, who was a Tennessee surgeon before joining the Senate in 1994, was a member of the platform-writing committee four years ago. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson (search), who was then governor of Wisconsin, was the previous chairman.
On Saturday, Democrats finished the final details of their platform after persuading activists to drop virulent language about the Iraq war that would have declared the conflict a mistake from the beginning. The platform will be presented to the Democratic National Convention in Boston at the end of this month.
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