One of the most intriguing aspects of the current contest for the Republican Party’s nomination for president is the emphasis being placed on the principle of federalism, the idea that the people delegated to the federal government only certain enumerated powers and that most decisions are best left to the local and state governments. Senator Thompson is the candidate who has picked up the mantle of federalism; he has gone so far as to make a brief discussion of federalism a regular feature of his stump speech. “Power is separated not only at the federal level, but between the federal and the state level,” Mr. Thompson said at a recent stop in Iowa. “And not every solution to every problem has a federal solution, under the Constitution of the United States.”