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He enrolled at Harvard Law and marched for civil rights in Selma. He devoted summers to social work in Latin America, developing fluency in Spanish and an abiding interest in the region's politics. Following graduation, he worked for the federal antipoverty program in Texas, then Washington. He found both posts exhilarating, but cultivated a healthy skepticism about "efforts to force social change from the top down."
After returning home to Arizona in 1967, Babbitt practiced law in Phoenix. A former colleague, Anne Bingaman, recalls that "in a firm of young workaholics, Bruce stood out as the one who never ate lunch and came in on Sundays." Babbitt donated many hours to pro bono cases, but was little involved in politics. Then another epiphany. While representing the Navajo tribe in a voting-rights case against the state, Babbitt realized, "My God, the attorney general has the largest law firm in Arizona, and it's devoted to the defense of racial discrimination. What it ought to be is a public-interest law firm!" And so it became after Babbitt's reformist campaign won him the attorney general's office in the 1974 election.
In 1978, Babbitt succeeded to the Governor's office through a fluke: the elected Governor stepped down, his replacement died, and the attorney general was left next in line. Babbitt then won election to two terms in his own right, proving himself a popular and shrewd executive in a deeply conservative state. He balanced his budgets, refused to throw money at problems and avoided fights he couldn't win. He pressed the legislature to improve health care for the poor, while holding taxes down and deregulating business. Says House Majority Whip Jane Hull, a conservative Republican and frequent Babbitt opponent, "I guess he did drag us kicking and screaming into the 20th century."
Unlike such antipoliticians as Jimmy Carter, Babbitt learned and relished the levers of power, including the veto, the initiative, patronage and press leaks. Republicans controlled the Arizona legislature, but it was not veto proof, and Babbitt would threaten to sink the pet bills of legislators if they didn't accept his program. He made good on such threats a record 114 times.
Mostly, though, Babbitt excelled by mastering the details, concentrating on them to the point of becoming something of a policy wonk. Even now, in the crucible of a presidential campaign, he manages to read widely and thoroughly, especially on foreign affairs and economics. Says Rob Smith, a Sierra Club official who has worked closely with him, "In negotiations, he is always the best-informed person at the table, so he usually wins."