Bruce Babbitt always seemed a most unlikely politician, even at his tiny high school in the mountains of northern Arizona. An A student with thick glasses, he dressed plainly and paid no heed to the '50s fashion for ducktail haircuts. He took piano lessons, served as an altar boy, and was voted "most courteous" in his 1956 yearbook. A friend recalls that Babbitt was too small for football, so he worked as the team's equipment manager, "and you know what kind of turkey that can be."
But Babbitt proved more fox than fowl. He dated the prettiest cheerleaders, while quietly befriending...