Lamar Alexander: Who's In Charge Here?

Lamar Alexander is used to cleaning up big messes. When he walked into the Tennessee statehouse in 1979, his first chore was to sweep up after the scandal-tainted administration of his predecessor, Ray Blanton. Last week the two-term former Governor and current president of the University of Tennessee took on another big political cleanup job. President Bush asked him to become Secretary of Education and revitalize that Cabinet post after the forced resignation earlier this month of the lackluster Lauro Cavazos. One of Alexander's first priorities, however, will be to help extricate his new boss from the political morass resulting from...