ST. PAUL, Minn. — One of Senator McCain’s top foreign policy advisers is assuring the press that the Republican Party’s presumptive presidential nominee will have a balanced ideological approach to foreign policy and should not be characterized as “neoconservative.”

When quizzed at an event on foreign policy, Ambassador Richard Williamson said he takes advice from both neoconservatives and their ideological foes inside the Republican Party.

“So some of those that are seen as neocons will have an opportunity for their views to be heard. Some of those, like Brent Scowcroft and Larry Eagleburger … he talks to.” He also mentioned Henry Kissinger.

Mr. Scowcroft in particular has carved out a reputation of opposing the foreign policy of the current president. In 2004, Mr. Scowcroft, who served as the national security adviser to President George H.W. Bush, said before the November elections that the Israeli prime minister at the time, Ariel Sharon, had the American president “wrapped around his finger.” When President Bush won re-election, Mr. Scowcroft was stripped of his post on the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board. This month, Mr. Scowcroft has a book due out that he co-authored with President Carter’s national security adviser, Zbigniew Brzezinski, who was one of the earliest foreign policy figures to endorse Senator Obama — before even the Iowa primary.

Mr. Williamson, President Bush’s special envoy to Sudan, said the division between “idealists” and “realists” was artificial. “In point of fact you must be realistic to deal with today’s challenges, but you must be idealistic to see where we should go. I think that is the summary of John McCain.”

During his remarks, Mr. Williamson also stressed that Mr. McCain recognized the value of diplomacy and that while the senator supported the Iraq war, he did not display the overconfidence of some in the administration, a possible jab at Vice President Cheney.

“Going into Iraq, John McCain never said it was a cakewalk. Going into Iraq, John McCain never said we didn’t have enough troops. John McCain, before we went in, said we were not prepared for the post-conflict situation. So, sure, John McCain feels our foreign policy should be animated by our values, just like Ronald Reagan did. But John McCain is a practical man.”

Mr. Williamson is one of a handful of foreign policy experts who have been tapped to tutor Mr. McCain’s running mate, Governor Palin. When asked about the Alaska governor, Mr. Williamson said, “I think the bottom line is that Governor Palin is an extremely smart woman. Like all successful women, she is able to absorb a lot of information quickly.” He added, “The bottom line is that John McCain has clear views and they are going to be supportive and work together.”

Also on the brain trust dealing with Mrs. Palin is a former staff director of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee under Senator Helms, Steve Beigun, and President Bush’s former director of global communications, Tucker Eskew.