Southeast Asia, our declining military posture. But the press is protecting the liberals. The Republicans make it easy for them by echoing the same thing." To back up his position he pointed to Gallup polls that showed that while only 17% of Americans called themselves Republicans, 62% called themselves conservatives. He was heartened by another Gallup poll that showed that 25% of the electorate favored the formation of a new conservative party. Giving up on the Republicans, Viguerie moved on to become one of the main organizers of the American Independent Party convention in Chicago meeting in August. At the opening of the convention a party platform was agreed on that declared their opposition for several ideas including the Equal Rights Amendment, amnesty for draft dodgers, the individual income tax, legalized abortion, forced busing, foreign aid, membership in the United Nations, and gun control. It was felt that the platform would attract conservatives away from the major parties. The convention's keynote speaker denounced "atheistical political Zionism". Viguerie was a leader among a group of nationally prominent conservatives known as the New Right. Feeling that President Ford was insufficiently conservative and upset that the Republican party had not given the nomination to Ronald Reagan instead, they attended the convention in an effort to take over the party and remake it as a vehicle to create a new conservative coalition. In this effort Viguerie was joined by William A. Rusher, publisher of National Review, Howard Phillips leader of the activist organisation The Conservative Caucus and former head of the Office of Economic Opportunity, and religious conservative Paul Weyrich. They argued that the party was seen as a fringe group but should become the philosophical home for believers in free enterprise and traditional moral values. They hoped to attract former Governor Ronald Reagan if he did not succeed in wresting the Republican nomination from President Ford. If they could not secure Reagan they hoped to attract other nationally known conservatives such as Senator Jesse Helms, Governor Meldrim Thomson Jr., Representative Philip Crane, former Governor John Connally, antifeminist activist Phyllis Schlafly, or Ellen McCormack (who had run an anti-abortion campaign in the Democratic Presidential primary earlier that year) to head the ticket for the party. When none of these figures agreed to switch parties Viguerie's group had to resort to promoting Dallas columnist Robert J. Morris. Viguerie ran as Morris' Vice President choice, promising