(4 of 5)
Babbitt's finest achievement as Governor was his passage of landmark legislation to protect the lifeblood of Arizona's rapid economic growth: its scarce underground water. This came only after a dramatic charade in which Babbitt enlisted Cecil Andrus, then Secretary of the Interior. The two agreed that Andrus would threaten to cut funding for a major water project dear to powerful economic interests in Arizona unless the state managed its groundwater better. "I went home and called him an overreaching federal hypocrite," Babbitt recalls with a grin. Then, having immersed himself in the arcana of water management, Babbitt mediated eight months of talks among farmers, miners, developers, municipalities and environmentalists, emerging with a plan that the legislature accepted unchanged.
The perennial struggles beween Arizona's copper unions and its union- busting managements have influenced Babbitt's ideas on what he calls "workplace democracy." He believes government should encourage profit sharing and worker ownership of companies and end tax breaks for "companies like General Motors, which lay off thousands of workers while paying big bonuses to executives."
While Babbitt can sound impassioned about creating jobs, his room temperature is cooler than most. Detractors call him aloof and ungrateful for political help, and even many allies describe him with more admiration than affection. Says Alfredo Gutierrez, former Democratic leader in the Arizona senate, "I consider Bruce a friend, but he has never been a warm, inclusive person, and that offends some people in politics."
What warmth Babbitt has to offer seems reserved for his family: Wife Hattie, 40, a Phoenix trial lawyer he met while working in the Texas antipoverty program, and Sons Christopher, 12, and T.J., 10. Ardent naturalists, the Babbitts regularly spent weekends and holidays hiking the canyons and skiing the mountains of northern Arizona before the campaign.
Like Carter, Hart and other once obscure presidential hopefuls, Babbitt is betting his candidacy on its first test: the Feb. 8 Iowa caucuses. Though he is still low in the polls, his organization is razor sharp in both Iowa and New Hampshire, where grass-roots efforts are particularly crucial.
Running a low-budget, long-shot campaign, Babbitt has not been above an occasional publicity stunt. Even before his stand-up routine on the NBC debate, he was the first presidential candidate to appear this year in a Saturday Night Live skit (in which he is caught trying to sneak extra grocery items through the express checkout). Following his disastrous video performance at the Houston debate in July, Babbitt almost daily practiced speaking into a videocamera, sometimes sending the tapes to an acting coach.