Candidate Swallow chokes on part of the GOP platform

Cut John Swallow and he bleeds Republican red.

Out of the 98-page national Republican Party platform adopted this week at the party's convention in New York City, Swallow says he really only has a serious disagreement with one plank.

The 2nd District Republican candidate doesn't like President Bush's No Child Left Behind education testing/funding program, believing education should be a state and local school board issue that the federal government doesn't meddle in.

But besides that and a few shades of disagreements over immigration and the budget — with a GOP majority in Congress that he says is "spending too much" — Swallow walks the platform line.

But he doesn't see it that way.

"I will not following lockstep with any national platform or party. I'll follow my conscience. And I believe I'll vote the conscience of my district; I think I represent their values," said Swallow.

Having said that, Swallow also said he agrees with nearly all of the GOP national platform.

During the July Democratic National Convention in Boston, the Deseret Morning News asked 2nd District Rep. Jim Matheson to detail how he differed from his Democratic party's national platform. Matheson didn't attend that convention.

Likewise, Swallow didn't attend his party's convention, which ends tonight in New York City's Madison Square Garden. Both candidates are in a tight race and said their time would be better spent campaigning.

Swallow said he had only "quickly reviewed" his party's lengthy platform. He agrees with several planks that have already been criticized by Democrats; called by some moderate Republicans as too conservative.

For example, Swallow agrees with the national platform's call for a federal constitutional amendment to protect a "traditional marriage" between a man and a woman. He said he'll also vote for Amendment 3 on the Utah ballot this November, which would change the state constitution to outlaw same-sex marriages.

He likes the "pro-life" plank in the national platform.

Swallow also supports Bush's platform stand on stem-cell research, and so falls counter to the broader stem cell research advocated by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and gubernatorial GOP candidate Jon Huntsman Jr.

While Swallow supports a federal constitutional amendment on marriage, he said he didn't know enough about the no-flag-burning amendment to take a stand. (Hatch has sponsored a flag desecration amendment for years and the platform endorses it.)

By and large, Swallow said he doesn't like constitutional amendments, even though national Republicans call for several.