Up-'n'-Comers : Standouts in the Republican farm system.(Brief Article)

Even the conservative movement's most cheerful optimist is dispirited when he considers the current crop of Republican state leaders. "The problem now is that if a Republican governor is not raising taxes he can hold his head up," Grover Norquist notes glumly.

Norquist's outlook returns to its customary sunniness, however, when he discusses conservatives' future leadership; he predicts that there will be a spirited competition for the mantle of national conservative leader. A record number of Republican governors have been elected in recent years, but their disappointing performance in office has conservatives looking elsewhere for promising politicians to champion their agenda. And while the right-wing bench-even apart from the governors-is not crowded, there are worthy incumbents and challengers conservatives should be rooting for.

While the senior senator from Arizona grabbed all the headlines in 2000, Arizona's junior senator actually came much closer to winding up in the White House than his maverick colleague did. Jon Kyl was one of only a handful of candidates to be interviewed by Dick Cheney during George W. Bush's search for a running mate. Sen. Kyl's solid record on foreign and defense policy would have provided what Bush was clearly looking for had Kyl's former mentor from their days in the House together not gotten the nod. Since his service in the House as a charter member of the Conservative Opportunity Society, the second-term senator has been a dedicated conservative advocate on issues ranging from missile defense to free trade and estate-tax repeal. Most recently, Kyl led a successful GOP revolt that held up appropriations bills until the Senate stopped stalling the confirmation of some administration nominees. With Phil Gramm's announced retirement, many conservatives will be counting on the hardworking and talented Kyl for the principled leadership that Gramm so reliably provided.

Another Arizonan who has earned the enthusiastic support of conservatives will be running for governor next year. Facing a self-imposed limit of only three terms, Matt Salmon left the House last year; in Congress, he enjoyed nothing more than a spirited fight over his strongly held convictions. Should Salmon-the only candidate who refuses to abide by the state's new regime of public-campaign financing-win in November 2002, he could be counted on to join the new competition Norquist hopes to see among committed reformist governors.

Another such governor would be in office in Missouri, had former congressman Jim Talent not lost his bid by less than 1 percent last year. Talent has announced that he will take on Sen. Jean Carnahan, who was appointed to the first two years of the term her late husband won. An extremely able and articulate conservative, Talent has been teaching a course on Congress at Washington University in St. Louis; his choice of E. B. White's Elements of Style as the single required text indicates what a welcome difference he brings to the practice of politics. In just a few short weeks, his campaign ...