Richard Rosenbaum says that he owes his political career to his baldness. In his case, it is a condition caused by alopecia.

Sometimes referred to as the "Iron Chancellor of New York Politics," Rosenbaum began his career at the bottom, as he describes it - knocking on doors. He liked handing out combs as kind of a tongue-in-cheek ice breaker.

Rosenbaum has been an influential figure in Republican politics for more than 40 years. He was one of the youngest justices ever elected to the New York State Supreme Court, and he was chairman of the New York State Republican Committee from 1973 to 1977.

He spoke last night at St. John Fisher College, lifting stories from his book "No Room for Democracy: The Triumph of Ego over Common Sense."

To be a strong party leader and to build a powerful party requires someone who doesn't tolerate opposition, says Rosenbaum. There is no room for committee decisions. Democracy stops at the doorway.

Loyalty, he says, takes on a heightened importance in politics. If money is the lubricant of politics, loyalty determines which gears get greased.

Most interesting was Rosenbaum's relationship to his mentor and former boss, New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller. There hasn't really been a figure in politics quite like "Rocky" in his heyday. He was equal parts executive, philanthropist, and New York royalty at a time when New York was at the top of its game.

He also represented the moderate side of the Republican Party - hugely popular in New York, but never accepted by the conservative base.

Rosenbaum didn't have any words of wisdom for Republicans, except to remind them that one-party rule at any level of government is good for the party not in power because the public will eventually turn on the incumbents.

And he returned to the subject of loyalty, noting that President Ford dumped his mentor and friend, then Vice President Rockefeller, as his VP candidate. He replaced Rockefeller with Bob Dole after being pressured by conservatives like Ronald Reagan and Donald Rumsfeld.

Of course, it was a bad decision for Ford. Rocky would have delivered New Yorkers. Instead, Ford lost to Jimmy Carter.

It's been a textbook case of what not to do, and no president since has dumped his VP.