Vietnam War hero Sen. John McCain has an obvious edge over Gov. George W. Bush among Vietnamese American voters during the primaries. However, politics in the generally conservative community are starting to evolve, reports Hoai Phi, a correspondent for New California Media <http://www.NCMonline.com>, an ethnic news media collaborative of Pacific News Service.

One would think that Vietnamese Americans -- widely regarded as a Republican base of support -- would easily choose conservative-Vietnam-War-hero-turned-senator John McCain over plain conservative Gov. George W. Bush in the primaries. Politics, however, are no longer that simple in the Vietnamese community.

While McCain retains an edge over Bush in the community of former refugees from Vietnamese Communist rule, the realities of assimilation and globalization, and the rise of a younger generation, are adding new facets to the political life of Vietnamese in America.

In the 1970s, in the years following their arrival as refugees, most Vietnamese Americans did not vote during elections. They were still distracted by the challenges of re-settlement and the task of attaining U.S. citizenship and pessimistic about their ability to influence an unfamiliar political process. The language barrier was another big obstacle to full political participation.

Those who had attained voting rights earlier tended to vote Republican. This was a natural outcome of the collective experiences -- the communist victory of April 30, 1975, boat escape tragedies and the horrors of re-education camps -- that made most new Vietnamese immigrants fiercely anti-communist.

The new immigrants believed that "the Republican party would fight the communists better," said Mrs. Chau Nguyen of northern Virginia.

In the early 1990s, however, this view began to change. Communism's collapse in Eastern Europe and improved communication and intercourse among Vietnamese within and without their homeland led to the birth of a new outlook among Vietnamese Americans.

Although many exiles held on to strong anti-communist views, they no longer saw boycotts and international sanctions as the best weapons for opposing Hanoi.

Many now believe that the development of Vietnam's economy and its integration into the wider world will eventually end the Communist Party's grip on power. In Hanoi, this new strategy is commonly referred to as "peaceful evolution."

Moreover, a sharp division has risen within the Vietnamese American community due to the rapid growth of the U.S. economy under the Clinton administration. This growth benefits many Vietnamese who work for high-tech firms in Silicon Valley and Texas and makes them increasingly supportive of the Democratic Party.

As the first-generation of Vietnamese Americans grows older, the community is paying more attention to concerns over assimilation and such domestic issues as the maintenance of social security and Medicare. There is a feeling that the Democrats are more committed to these social programs than the Republicans.

On the other hand, the upcoming 25th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War has rekindled painful memories and bolstered the community's older anti-communist impulses.

These mixed feelings have led to unsettled attitudes towards the Republican presidential primaries.

Most Vietnamese immigrants feel closer to McCain than to Bush. "Senator McCain cares much more about American and south Vietnamese veterans," said Mr. Kim Pham, editor of Nguoi Viet Tay Bac newspaper in Seattle. "He has proposed many laws which defend veteran's benefits."

McCain's prison experience is a big part of his appeal. "McCain and I both spent time in communist prisons," said Mr. Phan Tan Hai of the daily Viet Bao in California. "This brings us closer together."

Mrs. L. Nguyen, a tailor in San Jose, said she preferred McCain because "he fought in the war" although she claimed not to follow the presidential race.

McCain's standing, however, has its weaknesses. For instance, many Vietnamese believe that he simply cannot win.

"Governor Bush is financially much better off than Senator McCain," said Mr. Pham. "He also enjoys more support from the Republican Party than McCain. And no one wants to waste their vote."

McCain also backed normalization between the United States and Vietnam and has praised Hanoi for its full cooperation on the MIA issue. Anti-communist stalwarts, therefore, have accused him of selling out.

McCain's recent use of the derogatory term "gook" to refer to his wartime torturers added a twist to the electoral drama. Strong critical reactions from some Vietnamese and other Asian Americans provided an opportunity for Hanoi to counter McCain's accusations of torture.

Hanoi's response in turn provoked an anti-communist backlash in support of McCain. Perhaps that is why Vietnamese American political leaders in Orange County quickly accepted McCain's public apology and gave him a hero's welcome to the "Little Saigon" neighborhood of Westminster.

Be that as it may, the debate over McCain's war experience and anti-communism has less influence over an emerging younger generation of Vietnamese Americans. Relatively free from the ideological conflicts that have preoccupied their parents, this group is changing the way in which the community views American politics.

They vote based on hopes for the future rather than memories of the past. Moreover, they believe that the agendas of Democrats and Republicans differ significantly only with regard to domestic issues. When it comes to foreign policies, the two parties are fundamentally similar.

After all, it was the Republican President George Bush who lifted the embargo on Vietnam, easing the way for President Clinton's approval of normalization with Hanoi.