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The successful Republican Presidents—and Democrats too—have generally been skilled party organizers. While overseeing military operations during the Civil War, Lincoln was just as occupied on the civilian front trying to keep all his party's factions united behind his policies. However convinced of his particular viewpoint, any President must establish a consensus to govern effectively. But Reagan feels that the Republican Party has been too willing to make concessions for the sake of consensus. He blames past G.O.P. defeats less on people of his own convictions than on what he calls party "pragmatists": Republicans who said, "Look what the Democrats are doing and they're staying in power. The only way for us to have any impact is somehow to copy them." Reagan has firmly drawn the ideological line between the parties, and a significant force is finally lining up on his side of it. Despite recent polls, however, that force has yet to prove that it represents a majority of Americans. To show that it does will be Reagan's task.
—By Edwin Warner. Reported by Laurence I. Barrett/Los Angeles and Walter Isaacson/Detroit
* On the Democratic side, Eleanor Roosevelt led the opposition to ERA in 1940, and the Democrats did not support the measure until 1944. The latest polls indicate ERA is supported by 54% of the populace, but by only 43% of Republicans.