There was no rebellious stage in Spitzer's life, no long-hair days. But his competitiveness, especially in athletics, was directed as much at family as friends. In some well-to-do households, there is a rite of passage in which the son finally beats the father at tennis. As a teen, Spitzer found himself near that goal one day, closing in for the kill. When his father paused to catch his breath, Spitzer called out, "Mom, Dad is stalling!" The family still talks about the time Bernard cruelly whipped his son in Monopoly.

At Princeton, Spitzer entered the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. He got good grades and listened to Bruce Springsteen (he just went to Albany with an ex-classmate to see the Boss for the fourth time). He was elected president of the student body in his sophomore year. Colleagues remember his taking on the university administration over divestiture from South Africa and (a student classic) higher wages for campus service workers. He went on to Harvard Law, where he wrote his way onto the prestigious law review. Market commentator Cramer, who met Spitzer on their first day, tells an anecdote meant to show the roots of Spitzer's rectitude. For a criminal-procedure class, Cramer says, he organized a group of students to alternate attendance and share notes. Spitzer, he claims, thought it was gaming the system and threatened to tell the professor. Spitzer says it's a good story but untrue. Either way, Cramer's tale is revealing (about both men): "Eliot was earnest in an atmosphere where you felt stupid to be earnest. He was kind of a goofy guy—so straight, he didn't have an ounce of guile."

After graduating, Spitzer clerked for a judge, then joined the firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, a job he found unfulfilling. He did what almost no one does—quit the firm before the requisite résumé-enhancing two years. Next he joined the Manhattan district attorney's office, where he spent six years pursuing the Gambinos and other big-time criminals. He returned to private practice, this time at the firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, before making a sudden decision in 1994 to run for New York attorney general. He got crushed, finishing fourth in a four-way primary race. Worse, opponents later claimed he relied improperly on family wealth to finance his campaign, a charge that became an issue in his next race.

Spitzer then helped found a private law firm, Constantine & Partners, and began planning for the following election. He traveled up and down New York, rubbing shoulders with key state political players and meeting the masses. He hit almost every county, putting 70,000 miles on the family minivan. Keith Wright, a state assemblyman from Harlem, remembers campaigning with Spitzer, walking into subway stations, senior centers, hairdressers'. At the end of the day he offered Spitzer a ride home. Spitzer declined, saying he would catch a gypsy cab. "I thought, That's my man," Wright says. "Man of the people—in a gypsy cab. Not bad for a stiff little white kid from Riverdale."

The 1998 election foreshadowed the presidential vote of 2000. The race between Spitzer and the incumbent, Dennis Vacco, was so tight that it took six weeks before Spitzer was finally declared the winner, by about 25,000 votes. (In a memorable dissent, Vacco claimed that "dead people" and illegal immigrants had voted for Spitzer, a charge immortalized in the tabloid headline aliens stole my election.) The new attorney general began looking for cases that mattered. Using an obscure section of the federal Clean Air Act, he took on polluters in the Midwest in 1999, arguing that winds bring their acid rain to New York. Two power companies agreed to pay a total of $2.6 billion to clean up 18 power plants, though the Bush Administration's efforts to gut the act have stalled the cases. Spitzer challenged gun manufacturers who supply retailers involved in illegal sales. Though the case has not yet succeeded, Spitzer used a novel legal tool—the "nuisance law," arguing that such firearm sales created a "harmful condition" that required a change in business practices. Then in 2001 he began his pursuit of Wall Street.

What will Spitzer do for an encore? His success fighting the investment banks raised his profile and has created hopes in some New York Democratic circles that he will run for Governor in 2004. Spitzer's wife says she has never once heard him talk about such an ambition; he says only that he "won't rule anything out." For now, he's focused on the law. His battles are complicated, and it's hard to tell when, exactly, he's entitled to a victory dance. "The cases against Wall Street are like stopping someone speeding on a highway," he says. "The other cars slow down for a while, and then, after a certain number of miles, they speed up again. The question is, How many miles before they start speeding again?" Our hero, the "Caped Highway Cop," awaits.

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