Campaign 2000: Primary Questions

Oliver Wendell Holmes once famously described Franklin Roosevelt as a man possessed of a second-rate intellect but a first-rate temperament. In the years since, America has elected brilliant men and charming ones, wonks, rogues, rascals, a general, an actor, a nuclear engineer, in a rolling judgment about knowledge and wisdom, instinct and style. At times it seems that the murkier the issues, the sharper the matter of character becomes.

This year's Democratic race was a two-man show from the start, but on the Republican side, it took more time, five dropouts, some stumbles and some surprises to arrive where we...