The Jim Gilmore You Don't Know

First, the bad. He favors abortion rights during the first two months of pregnancy, he presided over an increase in state spending as governor of Virginia, and he failed to pave the way for a Republican successor.

Now the good. He's been the head of the Republican National Committee and the Republican Governors Association, a director of the Air Force Academy, is a director of the National Rifle Association, and chaired a federal commission on homeland security that, two years before 9/11, issued a report warning that the nation was vulnerable to a terrorist attack. The latter credential, as Bob Barr has written, gives Gilmore "the most solid understanding" of homeland security of any presidential candidate. "He was a leader in the field before half the country became armchair anti-terrorism experts."