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Will that be enough to beat Hillary Clinton?

Conservatives I've spoken to (privately) in the past few months seem to see Gilmore's performance as governor as solid, but not dynamic. Workaday, not tremendously innovative. At least reasonably competent.

Of course, to the Washington Post, which trashed Gilmore's record a few weeks back when he announced his probably candidacy, none of that is praiseworthy. Government wasn't big enough or active enough under Gilmore for the Post's tastes.

Then again, there was a time when that sort of record would have been the ideal for mainstream conservatives. There's something comfortingly 1950s-ish about Gilmore, not in the sense of being behind the times but in the sense of personal style and values.

"I am what I am," Gilmore told conservative bloggers last week.

And what he is, is exactly what he appears to be. That's a virtue. Conservatives looking for a presidential candidate could definitely do worse.

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Taxes, Education, Hillary Clinton, Social Security, Medicaid, Law, NATO, Africa, Energy, Oil