THE REPUBLICAN ESTABLISHMENT

Lightweight despite its bulk, this study of ""The Present and Future of the GOP"" begins with the thesis that the Republican renascence exhibited in the '66 elections will hereafter be guided by party professionals, not the amateur politicos who craved Barry. The new leadership features anti-ideological ""problem solvers"" as well as conservatives; the GOP-Dixiecrat Congressional coalition has disintegrated; the party is ""looking for a winner"" in '68. Such are the observations and forecasts served up in lively fashion with a garnish of solecisms. The most valuable sections provide long closeups of the perennial Nixon, of Romney, ""The Traveling"" ""The Man of Parts.""... then off for a regional tour from Javits to John Tower. As political analysts, the authors give only surreptitious, shallow attention to issues and voters. As intra-party cartographers, they offer a handy guide to kingmakers, speechwriters, and factions like the National Review crowd; but they fail to organize their comments on crucial questions--e.g. ""the Southern strategy""--into a coherent opinion. Consequently the book, like program notes, provides more and less interesting bits of background for the intermissions--its numerous readers will have to figure out the score for themselves.