Bob Kolasky is the managing editor of IntellectualCapital.com. His e-mail address is bob@voxcap.com

PHILADELPHIA -- Why not repeat it once again? The Republican convention this time sure is a happy gathering. Sure, there are a few protestors in the streets of Philadelphia tying up traffic; yes, a few members of the Texas delegation staged a silent protest over the fact that openly gay Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-AZ) spoke during prime time Tuesday; and true, if you listen closely among the conservative cognoscenti, you will hear some griping about the convention being a "farce."

But to overestimate any of these happenings would be missing the point. Peace and prosperity have come to the GOP.

Now, as any "good" journalist will tell you, peace and prosperity do not necessarily make for good copy. So like they would have taught me if I had gone to journalism school, I was forced to go to work to see if I could find a little controversy.

Staying on message

McCain: one of the non-stories during the convention

One of the dogs that did not bark at this convention was the intra-party fight between Ariz. Sen. John McCain and now-GOP presidential George W. Bush, the current governor of Texas. Coming into Philadelphia, questions still lingered over whether McCain would be a good soldier and place his full backing behind the man who vanquished his presidential aspirations.

He laid doubts to bed quickly, giving a pro-Bush speech Sunday at the Shadow Convention, the kind of off-the-wall setting where he might have been expected to be off message. Instead, McCain used the opportunity to laud Bush, even as hecklers interrupted his speech. By Tuesday, with his somewhat hearty endorsement of Bush in the main convention hall, the McCain-Bush conflict had proven a non-story.

So with that angle exhausted, it occurred to me to look toward the other men (and one woman) who had shared McCain and Bush's dream of achieving the 2000 Republican presidential nomination. After all, this was a nasty, albeit short, campaign in Iowa and New Hampshire, and it really did appear that there was a bit of enmity among the combatants. Perhaps it still exists.

With that in mind, I went looking for an answer -- and for Lamar Alexander, Gary Bauer, Elizabeth Dole, Steve Forbes, Alan Keyes and Dan Quayle (Given that Rep. John Kasich (OH) and Sen. Orrin Hatch (UT) were still active members of Congress -- and thus pretty much forced to be on message -- I chose to ignore them, much as Republican voters did last year.)

The early losers

Other than McCain, the former candidate with the highest profile this week is Dole. She gave a speech at the convention Tuesday night and has been a constant presence throughout the week. At a reception Monday, Dole spoke of her strong support of Bush for president.

"Running for president was one of the greatest experiences of my life. I only met one rude person in 10 months," Dole said. In all of her public pronouncements, she has been nothing but a surrogate for the Bush message of inclusive conservatism.

While Dole has been easy to find, the other former candidates largely have operated outside the glare of the convention spotlight. Despite the fact that tens of thousands of Republicans cast their primary ballot for men other than Bush and McCain, none of them have any official role in the convention festivities. Are they happy about that fact?

I would have asked Quayle and Alexander if I could have found them, but alas, they were unreachable. A Quayle spokesman said the former vice president was doing no interviews and not attending the convention. His absence hardly has been noticed, however.

Nor has Alexander's. His spokeswoman says the former Tennessee governor and Bush administration education secretary was "traveling" -- not to Philadelphia -- and unavailable, and would not have an opportunity to return phone calls because of a "busy meeting" schedule.

Former firebrands

Steve Forbes has not spent all week in Philadelphia, either, but he was in town Thursday. Forbes is "delighted" by the convention, so far, says Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, the former national chairman of Forbes' presidential campaign. "The platform and this convention have George Bush's face and his signature, but they are a reflection of Forbes' ideals and principles," explains Blackwell.

Blackwell points to Bush's proposal for Social Security reform, medical savings accounts and school choice as signs that Forbes' message has been heard.

Forbes, himself, said in an interview with me on Thursday that he is enjoying watching the convention and is encouraged by how "pumped" everyone is here. "There are other ways to get your message out" then speaking in the hall, Forbes says, particularly via the media. He contends that Bush's policy proposals on Social Security reform and tax cuts are in response to Bush's campaign experience, and that makes him feel like he has had an effect on this week. Forbes has no problem that his ideas and supporters are "sharing the stage," with Bush, says Blackwell.

Having your ideas sharing the stage with Bush, however, is not the same as literally sharing the stage. Shouldn't the former candidates get that opportunity?

Gary Bauer did not seem disappointed that he did not get the chance. "It's George Bush's convention, so he can do whatever he thinks works," Bauer told me. He admits that he thinks the convention is "kind of goofy," with all the efforts to turn it into entertainment and naked appeals to the message that the GOP is a party that cares. He says, "It's almost like we have internalized what the liberal Democrats have to say, and we have been kind of defensive about it."

Bauer is in town covering the convention for BeliefNet.org, a Web site dedicated to "do whatever it takes to help individuals meet their own needs in the realm of religion, spirituality and morality."

Each day he is offering BeliefNet's users an audio journal of his impressions from Philadelphia. "If I was invited to speak, I would speak clearly of American values and talk about the fact that the Republican Party is the party of virtue and liberty," Bauer told me. "I would have talked about the rights of our children and the unborn."

Alan Keyes probably would have delivered a similar speech, but he, too, was not invited to do so. Still, at his 50th birthday party, which was attended by a couple of hundred of Keyes' loyalists, the fiery former ambassador praised Bush and said he would help him get elected, albeit by maintaining a "relative silence," to allow for his life to go back to normal. "Somebody else carries the burden of bringing the fight to the Democratic Party," Keyes said. "I wish them well."

Chris Jones, the political director of Keyes for President, says the campaign will do what it can to bring its supporters into the Bush camp -- and he expects it will happen. He has nothing negative to say about this week's festivities, despite the fact that his candidate was left off the official program. "This is an ebullient convention with no hint of contention," says Jones. The selection of Dick Cheney as Bush's running mate did a lot to convince Keyes' supporters that Bush was worth supporting, Jones says.

"If Bush is stupid and he moves to the left," that might change, Jones continues, but the Keyes camp does not seem to expect that to happen. "I'm wearing a Bush-Cheney pin," Jones told me.

Whiners need not apply

I guess I'm out of luck. No controversy -- even among the firebrand Keyesians. Their man, after all, once underwent a hunger strike to try to get the official Republican Party to notice him. Not this time.

But wait, maybe the lack of a story is a story in itself. Bauer, Keyes and Forbes were Bush's most constant and loudest critics from the right, and all have made peace with his nomination. None of them is effusive in supporting the Texas governor, but they certainly are playing the role of loyal soldier. Does that mean anything?

I suspect it does. It is yet another manifestation of Bush's ability to unite the party. His selection of Cheney and the final Republican platform also allow the candidates, and their former supports, to express confidence that George W. Bush will govern as a conservative if elected -- or at least they are willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Of course, there is another plausible explanation for all of the former candidates' support for Bush. Maybe they have not given up their dream, and knowing that the Republican Party reveres loyalty above all other traits, they have made a political calculation not to throw stones -- or demand a space at the dais.

"I am not a whiner," Bauer says. Apparently neither are any of his fellow members of the GOP class of 2000 presidential candidates.