Israel's most industrious theocrat, Moshe Feiglin, continues his quest for influence and power in the Likud Party and, according to Haaretz, he's succeeding.

Why not place a ballot box at Ben-Gurion Airport by the duty-free shops? Or by the entrance to a vacation club in Turkey? Not that it matters - Moshe Feiglin has already won.

There's no doubt that Bibi will retain the leadership of the party, but Feiglin and his followers would seem to be equally assured of getting what they want.

A low voter turnout today will boost Feiglin's strength far beyond his real support. If Feiglin gets 20 percent of the votes, the result could be portrayed as an embarrassing malfunction. If he gets 30 percent of the votes, it would brand the Likud as negative, reactionary, and delusional, which would play into the hands of its political rivals.

But this is not Netanyahu's main problem. What really worries him is that the Likud's Knesset members regard the "Feiglins" as a significant, organized faction that must be taken into account. In this case, the bunch of rebels - most of whom ended up outside the present Knesset - will raise its head. Likud Knesset candidates will begin to compete with each other for the most radical statements to curry favor with the Feiglin group as the Knesset election approaches. Incumbent MKs will propose right-wing legislation for the same reason.

Ironically, Netanyahu's missteps may have less to do with this development than Ariel Sharon's split with the Likud Party. Sharon took most of Likud's centrist membership with him when he left, leaving the Likud more radical, more angry and more vulnerable to a takeover from the party's extreme wing.

Feiglin, of course, hasn't got a chance of ever being elected party chairman, but he may be well on his way to transforming Kahanism from a fringe movement into a serious mainstream political player. In the short term, this may be good news for the Israeli left, but in the long term its a serious problem for Israeli democracy. If there is one thing we don't need, its another theocrat with his hands on the levers of power.