As Gingrich has surely noticed, the man who would succeed him has been busy shuttling around the country, raising money for his colleagues and storing away political IOUs for the moment the post-Newt era arrives. Gingrich's loyalists are feigning indifference in public while fuming in private. Largent is one of the group of disgruntled conservatives who fomented the rebellion that nearly toppled Gingrich. But Largent and others like him say that even if Gingrich has improved as manager of the G.O.P. majority, this hasn't eased the burden imposed on all Republicans by the Speaker's dismal public-approval ratings. The baggage he carries, we carry.
Conservatism is popular.
The telegenic Paxon has the virtue of being articulate without coming across as arrogant. But his choirboy exterior is wrapped around intense ambition. Like President Clinton, Paxon started dreaming about a career in politics at a young age. Paxon won, treated it like a full-time job and then went on to the state legislature, where he learned how to be a conservative Republican without alienating potential allies among the party's moderates. That approach has worked well in Congress, where Paxon, who was first elected in 1988, has as close a bond with moderates like Rick White of Washington as he does with hard-liners of the Largent and Graham variety.