For Pete du Pont, the 1988 playbook writes itself. Right now the former Republican Governor of Delaware rates no more than an asterisk in the polls, and that only because of his name, ambition and prior public service. But last week, an hour after becoming the first major politician to announce his presidential candidacy, Du Pont set out on the familiar path of aspirants who need miracles: he was en route from Wilmington to the first skirmish sites. "I'm in Iowa and New Hampshire," he observed cheerfully, "from here to eternity."
For Pat Robertson, the plan is as intricate as a...