"I don't understand what is floating his ship except patriotism and terrorism concerns," said one conservative Republican political strategist.

Grover Norquist, an influential conservative strategist, scoffs at that idea.

A conservative strategist who opposes the treaty said: "The key person we are looking at is Dole.

"These guys lie to you," one conservative strategist said.

Two years ago, conservative strategists said, the jump in stock ownership was changing the traditional politics of Social Security.

Then there was Edward Luttwak, the mother of all conservative strategists.

Grover Norquist, a conservative strategist, said Republicans needed to talk about the environment in their own terms.

Patrick Muttart is a conservative political strategist based in the United States.

In contrast, Kevin Phillips, the conservative strategist, predicted that the commercial would backfire.

For all the liberals' planning, one leading conservative strategist was sanguine.