Until last summer, Andy Card didn't even have a passport to Austin. Though he had served President Bush off and on for 20 years, he had never been close to the son and even remarked privately that he felt left out as the Bush Restoration unfurled last spring. Then, out of the blue, came the call: Would you like to run the Republican National Convention? Card said yes, but wondered, Who had played matchmaker? Sure enough, George Herbert Walker Bush had quietly nudged his son into giving Card, 53, a tryout. Before long, Dubya liked what he saw. Both behind the scenes and on TV, Card did such a good job organizing a convention with no hard edges and plenty of "new Republican" faces of color that by September he was in line, all by himself, to become White House chief of staff.
You can see in Card's ascent all the habits and practices that the President-elect most prizes when choosing aides and advisers: the family tie, the first-term credential, complete loyalty, uncommon discretion and the diligence of a draft horse. Bush prides himself on being a good judge of people--those who have worked with both men say he is shrewder than was his father about aides' weaknesses as well as their strengths. That is a good thing, because he must choose a Cabinet that balances the many factions in his party--without running afoul of the other one. And he has consciously constructed a White House staff to avoid the mistakes that he believes limited his father's presidency to a single term.
In private and not-so-private asides to the party's right wing all year long, Bush signaled that he was far more conservative than his father ever was. But the party's right wing hasn't missed the most distinctive thing about the Bush team's ideology--it's lack of any to speak of. Aside from his notably conservative running mate, Dick Cheney, nearly everybody on most of the Bush short lists for a top position--from logistics-whiz Joe Allbaugh to international-law consultant Robert Zoellick--is an experienced Republican pragmatist. Yet Bush's aides have been sensitive to the conservative voices in the party. You can see it in the debate over how Bush is assembling--perhaps the word is reassembling--a foreign policy team.
Colin Powell, who was Dad's chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was named on Saturday to the post of Secretary of State, and Bush has all but said Condoleezza Rice will be his National Security Adviser. Rice worked on the NSC staff of Bush's father for two years and has been at W.'s side for six months. But Bush was finding it harder to pick someone to run the Pentagon, perhaps because everyone knows he will look first to Powell and Cheney on military matters. Already one top contender has withdrawn: with Powell's backing, Bush floated Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge for the spot, but Ridge withdrew about the same time that the G.O.P.'s right wing began to whisper out loud that the one-time Army artilleryman was soft on defense. Now leading the short list is retired Indiana Senator Dan Coats, a former Senate aide to Dan Quayle, whose selection would make the conservatives happier.