Up-'n'-Comers : Standouts in the Republican farm system.

Even the conservative movement's most cheerful optimist is dispirited when he considers the current crop of Republican state leaders. "The problem now is that if a Republican governor is not raising taxes he can hold his head up," Grover Norquist notes glumly.

Norquist's outlook returns to its customary sunniness, however, when he discusses conservatives' future leadership; he predicts that there will be a spirited competition for the mantle of national conservative leader. A record number of Republican governors have been elected in recent years, but their disappointing performance in office has conservatives looking elsewhere for promising politicians to champion their agenda. And while the right-wing bench-even apart from the governors-is not crowded, there are worthy incumbents and challengers conservatives should be rooting for.

While the senior senator from Arizona grabbed all the headlines in 2000, Arizona's junior senator actually came much closer to winding up in the White House than his maverick colleague did. Jon Kyl was one of only a handful of candidates to be interviewed by Dick Cheney during George W. Bush's search for a running mate. Sen. Kyl's solid record on foreign and defense policy would have provided what Bush was clearly looking for had Kyl's former mentor from their days in the House together not gotten the nod. Since his service in the House as a charter member of the Conservative Opportunity Society, the second-term senator has been a dedicated conservative advocate on issues ranging from missile defense to free trade and estate-tax repeal. Most recently, Kyl led a successful GOP revolt that held up appropriations bills until the Senate stopped stalling the confirmation of some administration nominees. With Phil Gramm's announced retirement, many conservatives will be counting on the hardworking and talented Kyl for the principled leadership that Gramm so reliably provided.

Another Arizonan who has earned the enthusiastic support of conservatives will be running for governor next year. Facing a self-imposed limit of only three terms, Matt Salmon left the House last year; in Congress, he enjoyed nothing more than a spirited fight over his strongly held convictions. Should Salmon-the only candidate who refuses to abide by the state's new regime of public-campaign financing-win in November 2002, he could be counted on to join the new competition Norquist hopes to see among committed reformist governors.

Another such governor would be in office in Missouri, had former congressman Jim Talent not lost his bid by less than 1 percent last year. Talent has announced that he will take on Sen. Jean Carnahan, who was appointed to the first two years of the term her late husband won. An extremely able and articulate conservative, Talent has been teaching a course on Congress at Washington University in St. Louis; his choice of E. B. White's Elements of Style as the single required text indicates what a welcome difference he brings to the practice of politics. In just a few short weeks, his campaign appearances and online chats have exhibited the humor, intelligence, and philosophical self-confidence that his many fans in Washington would love to see him bring to the Senate.

Bill Simon Jr., a wealthy businessman who served as a federal prosecutor under U.S. attorney Rudy Giuliani, brings a similar optimistic conservatism to his uphill battle against the Republican establishment for the party's nomination for governor of California. California conservatives hope that the 50-year-old son of the late Treasury secretary William Simon will have a combination of assets and ideas powerful enough to spare them the unsettling prospect of a GOP nominee-former Los Angeles mayor Richard Riordan-running to the left of Gov. Gray Davis next November. Should this talented newcomer upset Riordan, then knock off the troubled incumbent, he would automatically become a national conservative champion-and a presidential contender.

During the Florida recount follies last year, Florida's house speaker Tom Feeney became just such a national champion when he boldly declared that the legislature wasn't going to permit the state supreme court's meddling to jeopardize the timely appointment of Florida electors. Who was this pugnacious politician confidently reciting from the Federalist Papers on the floor of the Florida house? The 43-year-old Pennsylvania native is well known in his adopted state, where his spirited support for school vouchers caught the attention of Jeb Bush-who tapped Feeney to be his running mate in his first (unsuccessful) gubernatorial bid. Back in the legislature after the statewide race, Feeney is one of those happy warriors who thoroughly enjoy battling on behalf of lower taxes, deregulation, school choice, and pro-life causes. It is widely expected that he will bring his relish for political combat to Washington, when he wins one of Florida's two new congressional seats next year.

Feeney would provide reinforcement to the younger Republican House members who consistently champion the conservative agenda. In only his second term, Congressman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin has gone to the head of his class as a savvy advocate of supply-side tax cuts on the Ways and Means Committee. Sharing sophomore-class honors is Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, who has fought tirelessly for smaller budgets and bigger tax cuts. Arizona's John Shadegg ably runs the Republican Study Committee, where the most dedicated conservative members, like Ryan and Toomey, come together to design policies and plot strategies to advance a principled agenda. Freshman Mike Pence, who ran a conservative think tank and hosted a radio talk show in Indiana, is already viewed as a valuable ally by conservative colleagues, who appreciate his fluid command of the issues.

Thanks to members like these, and the generalship of majority whip Tom DeLay, the House has been able to produce conservative victories-narrowly, to be sure, but routinely. They are winning the conservative ground war, and helping set the stage for broader national success.