THE STEALTH CONGRESSMAN

There could even be a serious challenge on the Republican side. Ivan Sidney is now running for chairmanship of the Hopi tribe, but says he's considering running for the Republican nomination in Stump's district. Stump acts bored by such talk, though he says he takes every race seriously. He leans back against the slippery black leather of a couch in his seldom-used congressional office and thinks for a moment about going after the now-open Senate seat. He did, after all, consider such a move in 1986, when Barry Goldwater stepped down. (Insiders say John McCain jumped into that race before Stump had made a decision, but that Goldwater had initially supported Stump.)

Anyway, that's ancient history, as far as Stump's concerned. No, he says, he doesn't want to be a senator. Too much fund raising. And there's no way he could keep up with all that mail. "I tell you," he says, "I got all I can do.