As the Republican National Convention opens today in New York's Madison Square Garden, there are welcome signs that the presidential campaign may have taken a turn for the better after wallowing in attack ads that have diverted the public's attention. With any luck, America may start to focus on the real issues, and this week's GOP convention could help set the tone.

The catalyst for this change appears to be Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the one national figure these days who seems to be virtually immune from the hateful venom surrounding politics.

ELECTION 2004

• Election offices await orders • Delegates, protesters converge in N.Y. • Guards' focus is underground • Gay marriage still divides GOP • New York prepared for riot • Terrorism, economy top issues • Young 'maverick' rakes in donations ENQUIRER EDITORIAL • Let's campaign on real issues • Convention blog watch

Last week, President Bush took up McCain's call for a legal challenge against the shadowy independent "527" groups on both sides that have been launching attack ads without any real accountability. On Monday, he denounced the outside ads as "bad for the system - all of them," although some felt he didn't say enough to specifically condemn what he called "that one," the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ad that claimed his opponent, John Kerry, lied about his 1969 service in Vietnam. Later in the week, Bush went further: "I think Sen. Kerry should be proud of his record," he said. "No, I don't think he lied."

Bush called McCain on Thursday to discuss a joint strategy to combat such ads. "We want to pursue court action," Bush spokesman Scott McClellan said, adding that if court action doesn't work, Bush and McCain would team up to pursue legislative solutions in Congress.

Meanwhile, Kerry dropped an ad that quoted McCain after the Arizona senator complained that the four-year-old footage of him was used out of context.

McCain, who speaks to the convention tonight and joins Bush at an Iowa rally Tuesday, may have his own ambitions - some say he may run in 2008, but he'd be in his early 70s.

The irony of the ad flap, of course, is that 527 groups have come to prominence as a result of the McCain-Feingold campaign reform law, which cut off the supply of "soft money" to parties but allowed it to flow to outside groups. Now, McCain is saying - much as we argued in editorials last week - that 527s "should live under the same campaign finance restrictions" as hard-money groups such as political parties.

Meanwhile, this week's convention is the Republicans' chance to skewer the opposition and rally the troops with partisan rah-rah, just as last month's Democratic convention did. Bush reportedly may use his acceptance speech Thursday, however, to also make some substantive policy proposals for what he hopes will be a second term in the White House. That could provide some real issues that would counter the 527 sleaze and give both candidates something meatier to discuss this fall. At least we hope so. Stay tuned.

Live from New York ...The major broadcast networks will offer limited coverage of the GOP convention each evening in prime time. Cable news channels, such as CNN, MSNBC and Fox News, will have more extended coverage, as will PBS and C-Span. Most media also will have coverage on their Web sites, including video. Then there are the political Web logs, or "blogs." As we did during the Democratic convention, we'll do a daily Convention Blog Watch on our Opinions Page, starting today.