Old-time religion

Politics | The stars of yesterday headline a conference for conservative students—and that's fine with the youngsters

WASHINGTON, D.C.— Like time capsules, names of all-stars—Newt Gingrich, Alexander Haig, even Robert Novak and Walter Williams—rouse nostalgia for conservatism's glory days.

But the glory days are over: The Reagan Revolution aides-de-camp have retired, and the Contract with America has expired. The average age of those four men above is 73, and the dynasty has aged with them. So should it seem odd that it's those four in particular—and not the fresher faces of conservatism like Ann Coulter or Tucker Carlson—whom a major college conference tapped last week as conservative idea wells, betting they could resonate with the youth? In this case, it was the annual Young America's Foundation (YAF) National Conservative Student Conference at George Washington University, where several hundred of the right's preeminent campus leaders gathered.