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MESA — The Democratic nomination process continues on, with a primary today in West Virginia.

But here in Arizona, Republican supporters of John McCain are focusing their attention on Barack Obama despite the fact that Hillary Rodham Clinton remains a candidate.

At the GOP's state convention Saturday — where attendees met to select delegates for the national convention this summer — it was Obama who seemed to unite the crowd almost more than McCain.

And Republicans aren't holding back in their criticisms, even though Obama has yet to actually secure the nomination. Clinton, long a vehicle to rally the GOP base, seems to have fallen off their radar.

U.S. Rep. Trent Franks told the crowd of more than 1,000 Republicans: "If Barack Obama is elected president, there will be dancing in the streets … among the terrorists of the world."

Later, in an interview, Franks stood by the comments, saying, "I believe Barack Obama fundamentally misunderstands the danger and ideology of jihadist terrorism, and I think the terrorists themselves understand that."

That wasn't the only snap at Obama. Sen. Jon Kyl had a whole list, delivering 10 reasons why McCain would be a better president than Obama.

Kyl cited Obama's support from trial lawyers, his plan to withdraw troops from Iraq and his ranking in the National Journal as the most liberal member of the U.S. Senate.

But Democrats may have a simpler message: That McCain constitutes a third term of the Bush administration. And that coming at a time when the president's approval rating has tanked below 30 percent.

In a gathering with reporters after he left the stage, Kyl said he doesn't think that message will fly.

"One thing about politics is that you try work to convince people what they already know is true," Kyl said. "People know one thing: John McCain is not George Bush. I think that's a losing message on their part."

And there was a lot of talk about Obama's central theme of "change," an empty message, Republicans said.

For now, though, it's a platform half of Americans find attractive. Obama leads McCain by about 5 points in most general-election-matchup polls.

Arizona Democratic Party spokeswoman Emily Bittner said the attacks reveal a lack of unity in the Republican Party.

"I would hardly say they are united behind anything," she said. "I don't think the American people want someone who runs against something, they want someone who runs for them, and I think that's a Democrat."

But Kyl predicted the lack of universal popularity that followed McCain in the primary will now work to his advantage.

"If you stop to think about it," Kyl said, "one reason within his own party, John McCain didn't immediately, instantly get the support of 100 percent of Republicans was he was seen as too independent, too much of a maverick."