That sounds harmless, but social conservatives want no hint of accommodation on abortion, and the invitation was quickly reversed. Those are fighting words to conservative activists now. When Bob Dole said in 1996 that he'd be open to a line acknowledging that not all Republicans agree on the issue, the idea stirred a conservative uproar, and he dropped it. Proposals to ease or alter the ban on abortion wound up in a fine print platform appendix. They didn't even get into the footnotes of this one.
Platforms bind no one.
Challenging Jimmy Carter in 1980, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy forced through provisions the president opposed, and won a requirement that candidates pledge to carry out the platform. Carter complied with a statement that avoided specific commitments to the Kennedy planks, which he ignored in the losing campaign that followed. That platform battle took 17 hours of debate and roll call votes. The 2000 Republican platform was approved in about 17 minutes. When Reagan ran against President Gerald R. Ford in 1976, he forced through a plank that repudiated the foreign policy of the Republican administration.