Looking for Mr. Right

Conservatives are desperate for a 2008 contender they can love

It wasn't so long ago that conservatives believed that George Bush's presidency would usher in a political realignment that would last for decades. But as the right looks forward to the next election, something close to panic is setting in. Surveying the leading G.O.P. contenders for 2008, direct-mail guru Richard Viguerie pronounces "not a one of them is worthy of support from conservatives." Says Craig Shirley, a public relations executive who represents many conservative groups and who has written a book on the Reagan revolution: "There's anger, there's angst, there's dismay in the conservative movement." Some activists, Shirley adds, have even...

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