AUGUSTA (AP) – Excitement over this year’s presidential race is expected to draw 2,500 delegates and alternates to the Republican state convention, far exceeding the number that turned out two years ago, the state GOP chairman said as final preparations were being made for Friday’s opening.

The convention, which concludes Saturday, will feature speeches by GOP candidates in this politically momentous year, adoption of a platform and selection of delegates who will attend the national party convention Sept. 1-4 in Minneapolis-St. Paul.

Sen. John McCain has amassed enough delegates to win the GOP’s nomination for president, while Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton continue to battle for delegates to clinch the Democratic nomination.

“There’s a lot of excitement about the presidential race,” Maine GOP Chairman Mark Ellis said Thursday.

An expected turnout this year of 2,500 party activists would far exceed the 1,400 delegates and alternates who came to the GOP convention gathering two years ago, said Ellis.

February’s Maine presidential preference caucuses were won by Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who will be keynote speaker at the convention on Friday night.

Other highlights will be speeches the following day by Sen. Susan Collins, who is seeking re-election in November, Sen. Olympia Snowe, and the party’s congressional candidates. Collins is facing a challenge by six-term Democratic Rep. Tom Allen in a race that is being closely watched nationally.

The delegates on Friday afternoon will vote on a listing of party principles which includes expressions of support for American troops, free enterprise and individual initiative, the right to bear arms and market solutions to make health care affordable.

Among the other planks in the draft platform are those supporting “responsible pro-business laws” that encourage investment, expressing belief “in the sanctity of life” without mentioning abortion, and defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

In a reference to the issue of immigration, which has become prominent in national and state politics, the platform says, “We believe that it is an affront to every Maine citizen when illegal and unmitigated incursion of our state border by aliens is allowed without repercussion: citizenship and the rights of citizenship become devalued.”

It calls for English being made the official language of Maine and legislation that would require photo identification to be eligible to vote in the state.

Fiscal stability is another theme of the platform, which says, “We believe the Maine tax burden is too high, and that reducing tax rates, including fees, will increase personal income and stimulate the business climate.”

“The platform is always contentious,” said Ellis. “It seems like we can never schedule enough time for it.”

The overarching theme going into the convention will be the weakened state of the economy, replacing the strong sentiments about national security and the war on terrorism that were evident when the Republicans met two years ago, said Ellis.