Each side claims to represent the voters Bush needs most for re-election, setting up a balancing act as the party tries to keep its religious conservatives satisfied and motivated without driving other voters away.

Bauer, for example, said Cheney's comments making clear his opposition to a constitutional ban on gay marriage were "just the sort of thing that discourages and demoralizes voters the administration desperately needs."

Ann Stone, who leads Republicans for Choice, was just as insistent Bush must heed voters in battleground states who might be driven away by the hard line against abortion.

"Bush can't win with just his base," she said. "He needs base-plus. We are the plus."

The debate, while lively, was conducted largely in the hallways and in private meetings between party leaders and various factions.

The panel that gave initial approval to the language on family issues went through a sedate public process, with delegates reluctant to propose radical change to planks drawn up to match Bush's agenda.

But while Cheney's remarks of a day earlier prompted no discussion in the hearing, they were the subject of heavy cell-phone chatter outside the doors. Cheney, whose daughter Mary is a lesbian, said during a campaign stop Tuesday that people should be free to have the relationships they want, and existing law may well be enough to uphold traditional marriage.

Overall, Republican convention delegates overwhelmingly disapprove of gay marriage, according to an Associated Press survey of about three-quarters of the 2,500-plus delegates. About 72 percent said they opposed same-sex nuptials, while just over 2 percent favored it. The rest did not respond or had no opinion.