I think the "leadership" of the party has become hostage to gender thinking, racial thinking, etc.
Kobach sounds like the most qualified candidate. It is essential to have more Republicans in Congress with really strong educational backgrounds. While a liberal who went to Harvard, Yale, etc., isn't necessarily well-educated, they are likely to be very smart and articulate. A conservative with those credentials will be both of those things, and well educated, because he/she has had to digest the left's theories. Only such people are likely to effectively refute them.
President Bush being, apparently, a sad exception to my generalization about Ivy League grads.