American Notes ARIZONA

The letter, printed on stationery from the office of Arizona Governor Evan Mecham, could not have been more plaintive. Unless donors sent him $1.2 million within 45 days, Mecham wrote, he might be kicked out of office. Mailed to 25,000 conservatives across the country, the letter invited recipients to move to Arizona and help Mecham avoid "being crushed by the millions of dollars the militant liberals and the homosexual lobby plan to spend against me."

Mecham, a right-wing Republican elected last year, does face the prospect of losing his job. Some 227,000 Arizonans have already signed petitions for a recall election, 10,000 more than required to put the issue on ballots. But when the letter backfired, leading to more recall signatures, Mecham claimed he had never seen it; a machine had been used to sign his name. Bill Long, chairman of Mecham's campaign finance committee, dismissed the ruckus, noting that the words were just "standard conservative rhetoric."