PUBLISHER STEVE FORBES CONTINUES TO BE A FORCE IN TODAY'S POLITICS

Magazine publisher Steve Forbes ran for president in last year's primaries and lost, but that doesn't seem to have deterred him in the least.

This year, Forbes has been among the most active of any Republicans on the national scene. In the process, given a certain shellshocked attitude among many Republicans in Congress, Forbes has served as a sort of leading indicator on issue after issue -- a political canary in the mineshaft, if you will. From debates over medical savings accounts as the best health-care reform, to the chemical weapons treaty, to school choice, to partial-birth abortion, to tax cutting, to stopping stealth tax increases being sneaked through by the Internal Revenue Service, Forbes has been active on as many fronts as anyone out there and far more than most.

Forbes has wise counsel for fellow Republicans, saying that at a time when conservative ideas are everywhere in the ascendancy, even being aped by the opposition, the GOP should adopt the attitude of "happy warriors" for these and other causes. Forbes is a lodestar, "a compass that faileth not." The cause of freedom is greatly enriched by his many contributions which, it would appear, may be just beginning.