Word: babbittism
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...Bruce Babbitt always seemed a most unlikely politician, even at his tiny high school in the mountains of northern Arizona. An A student with thick glasses, he dressed plainly and paid no heed to the '50s fashion for ducktail haircuts. He took piano lessons, served as an altar boy, and was voted "most courteous" in his 1956 yearbook. A friend recalls that Babbitt was too small for football, so he worked as the team's equipment manager, "and you know what kind of turkey that...
...Babbitt proved more fox than fowl. He dated the prettiest cheerleaders, while quietly befriending everyone from chicano gang members to red-necks and jocks, some of whom he tutored in their problem subjects. Despite his gawkiness and good grades, Babbitt was elected student body president...
Ever since, Bruce Edward Babbitt has made a remarkable career of being underestimated by his political opponents. His wife once described him as a "shy, skinny intellectual with little public-speaking ability." Yet he pushed himself through successful campaigns for student president of Notre Dame, attorney general and Governor of Arizona and now, at age 49, into the biggest race...
Gary Hart's reappearance has eclipsed the rest of the Democratic field just as it came Babbitt's turn to capture 15 minutes of fame. But despite being stuck at near asterisk levels in the polls, Babbitt could in the end be helped by Hart's claim to have re-entered the race because the other candidates were avoiding substantive issues. Babbitt, with his rumble-voice lectures about the need to raise taxes and restrain entitlements, has long staked his claim as the brave knight of substance. Relentlessly propounding specific proposals and coherent themes, Babbitt offers as many...
Hart's return hurts all the charter members of the old Democratic six-pack in differing ways. The second-tier candidates (Gephardt, Gore and Babbitt) can ill afford to be overshadowed in the crucial weeks before Iowa and New Hampshire. Gore is particularly vulnerable since, having all but abandoned Iowa, he needs a respectable showing in New Hampshire to position himself for the Super Tuesday Southern primaries. Compared with Hart, the bow-tied Simon looks like the model of a conventional politician. "Hart will take away the fascination with Simon as the new and different candidate," predicts Democratic Media Consultant...