ARIZONA: Nonpolitical Politician

Arizona's Democratic leaders were not overly disturbed last fall when the voters confounded all the experts and, for the third time in the state's 39-year history, elected a Republican governor. It was just one of those flukes, they assured themselves. And besides, the Democrats still held overwhelming control of the legislature—all of the 19 senate seats, 61 of the 72 house seats. The bosses figured it was just a case of tolerating the helpless outsider in the state house for a couple of years, until nature's error could be corrected at the next election.

But the governor, a personable, vigorous,...