GINGRICH USES COMPASSIONATE, CHARITABLE APPROACH IN SPEECH.

Byline: Jim Drinkard Associated Press 

On a night when one speaker after another at the Republican National Convention bashed President Clinton, the normally combative House Speaker Newt Gingrich threw not a single stone.

The Georgia Republican spoke of charity and volunteerism in a speech designed to help soften two hard images: his and the Republican Party's.

``In every respect, our philosophy represents the most compassionate, charitable and hopeful vision for America today,'' Gingrich said in prepared remarks.

Striding onto the convention stage for the first time this week, Gingrich was welcomed by warm applause and a sea of ``Speaker Newt'' and ``I love Newt'' signs. He departed from his text, ad-libbing references to Olympic beach volleyball and tax cuts as examples of freedom.

Gingrich's speech contrasted sharply not only with his longstanding image as a partisan slasher, but with the rhetoric he has been dishing out around San Diego this week to groups of GOP activists.

He compared the GOP vision of charity to the ideals of ``the greatest Georgian of the 20th century, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. . . . We, too, have a dream,'' Gingrich said.

The combative lawmaker took over as House speaker in January 1995 after leading a revolution based on harsh partisan attacks, strident language and verbal confrontation.

That style took its toll on Gingrich's popularity. Polls show only a quarter of Americans - and barely half of Republicans - hold a positive view of him.

``People just don't understand where he's coming from. He's just so bright,'' said delegate Harriet Miller of Atlanta. Added Jabe Spera of Scotch Plains, N.J.: ``He's been misunderstood. A lot of people are afraid of him.''

The speaker has told supporters privately of a plan to erase the public's negative perception of him, bit by bit, over the next few years, and Tuesday's brief appearance fit into that strategy.

Polls show the party itself has similar problems. President Clinton wins decisively when Americans are asked who they believe is more sympathetic to the problems of ordinary people.

His words to the convention were unfailingly positive, envisioning an America where all can arise one day to find a land with no crime, good schools and jobs for all. And he linked that vision to the Republican principles of less government, lower taxes and more personal responsibility.

``America is about people reaching out to each other. America is about people helping each other, so that, one by one, individual by individual, we create a better future,'' he said.

Today, Gingrich was to appear at ceremonies turning over the keys to two Habitat for Humanity houses to their new low-income owners.

``You cannot do that when all your money is taken away by the government, when bureaucrats run your lives,'' he said to cheers.

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Photo: House Speaker Newt Gingrich and his wife, Marianne,wave to crowd.

Associated Press