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I second everything Wlady and Doug have said -- and then some. Although I came to have some disagreements with him later in life, Jack Kemp was an important leader of the Republican Party and conservative movement. He was one of the few figures who was passionate both about the standard Reaganite themes -- pro-growth economics, tax cuts, right to life, Cold War -- and also interested in bringing in the black and Hispanic Americans who too often felt excluded from the conservative message. He was a bridge between Reagan and King. And he was not afraid to dissent from conservative orthodoxy. Some of those dissents I agreed with -- Iraq, term limits -- some I did not -- Proposition 187, balanced budgets. But I always respected him and had high hopes for his presidential ambitions. Alas, it was not meant to be.