By Greg Bluestein

Associated Press Writer

DULUTH - A presidential candidate and another potential candidate used the Georgia Republican Convention as a staging ground Friday to air complaints about a Senate compromise on immigration reform.

Presidential hopeful and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney said the compromise is flawed because it makes it too easy for illegal immigrants to continue to live in this country, while former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich called the plan a citizenship "giveaway."

"These inherited bureaucracies do not work," said Gingrich, a Republican who has toyed with the idea of running.

He slammed the federal government's inability to track the nation's illegal immigrants - believed to number between 11 million and 13 million - and quipped that shipping companies would do a better job.

"Allocate $200 million to send a package to every person who's here illegally," he said. "When UPS and FedEx deliver them, we'll know exactly where they are."

Romney, also a Republican, said the immigration plan unveiled Thursday "has some positive features" but shouldn't include a renewable visa that would allow illegal immigrants to stay in the country indefinitely.

"That in my opinion is a form of amnesty," Romney said. "It would suggest the president, the House and the Senate need to come together to reconsider this incredible gift to those who are here illegally."

The convention's organizers barred presidential candidates from speaking, though Romney met with lawmakers, supporters and media. Gingrich was able to take the stage because he has yet to announce - and throughout the 30 minute speech he continued to shrug off speculation that he might.

"I don't know what I'll be doing next year because all of my projects tend to be so long and so much work," joked Gingrich, who had just mentioned the two congressional races he lost before he was elected to a suburban Atlanta district in 1978.

He later complimented former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, the Republican front-runner for the White House, for his success at cracking down on the Big Apple's crime. And he warned potential GOP candidate Fred Thompson, a former Tennessee senator, to stay away from debates formatted like "game shows" if he chooses to run.

He also praised former President Franklin Roosevelt, who he said was a Democrat who understood the nation must "never even contemplate a Congress legislating defeat and to be sure that the cause of freedom will win out."

But much of the attention of the operatives gathering at the convention was focused on the immigration plan introduced in the Senate a day earlier.

The legislation would allow illegal immigrants who arrived before Jan. 1, 2007 to remain in the U.S. on probationary status and renew four-year visas. They could eventually get a green card, which could take at least eight years. Heads of households would have to return to their home countries first.

The plan, however, is only a first draft and will likely be changed multiple times before final passage. Some Democratic leaders and influential Republicans have blasted the measure, which must be approved by both congressional chambers and be signed by the president before becoming law.

The convention reconvenes at 10 a.m. today. On the agenda is election of a new state party chairman. Marietta resident and longtime Republican Party activist Sue Everhart, who presently serves as first vice-chairman of the state party, is running uncontested for the top post.

Barring nomination of a competitor from the floor, Ms. Everhart will become the first woman in Georgia GOP history to serve as state party chairman.

Associated Press Writers Doug Gross contributed to this report.