Brownback 2008?

George Will assesses the prospects. He begins:

In 1988, the arrival of the religious right and social conservatism as formidable and entwined forces in the Republican Party was signaled when Pat Robertson received 25 percent of the vote in the Iowa presidential nominating caucuses, second to Bob Dole's 37 percent. Seventeen years later, when Robertson was asked on ABC's "This Week" who he thought might make a fine Republican nominee in 2008, he began his answer: "There's an outstanding senator from Kansas ..."

In the article Brownback states his belief that Rick Santorum, a rival for the votes of religious conservatives, will not run in 2008. He also shows a dangerous tendency to hyperbole by flirting with violation of the Bipartisan Anti-Inflammatory Pledge of 2005:

Brownback says opposition to same-sex marriages has "broadened the movement" of social conservatism. However, opposition to abortion is still the movement's molten core. He insists there is a pro-life majority - a majority opposed to abortion other than in cases of rape or incest or when it is necessary to save the mother's life. And he says the youngest voters, ages 18 to 25, are the most pro-life cohort. They were born, he says, when abortion rates were highest, so "many of them feel they're the survivors of a holocaust: one in four of their compatriots are not here." Actually, almost one in three: the abortion rate peaked in 1983 at 30.4 percent.

That is, indeed, an alarming stat; but 'a holocaust' is uncomfortably close to THE Holocaust, and rhetoric like that will only inflame the pro-choice crowd. Is Brownback ready for Prime Time? Look for candidate profiles of Brownback and Santorum soon...