Claude Kirk, 41, a Florida businessman and political tenderfoot, got himself elected last November as the state's first Republican Governor since Reconstruction. Last week, in a special legislative election necessitated by redistricting, Kirk led the G.O.P. to a position of power unprecedented anywhere in the modern South.
While the Democrats retained control of both houses, they lost the two-thirds margins needed to override a gubernatorial veto. The previous senate line-up favored the Democrats 37-11; the new ratio will be 28-20. In the Florida house, which was expanded by two seats, the...
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