In American politics, the arc from City Hall to the Cabinet is one of the longest imaginable. Most politicians spend entire careers trying to travel it and never arrive.
Dirk Kempthorne, the former Idaho governor, U.S. senator, and secretary of the interior who died April 24 in Boise at the age of 74, not only made that journey — he made it look, somehow, like the most natural thing in the world.
Dirk Arthur Kempthorne was born on Oct. 29, 1951, in San Diego and raised in San Bernardino, California — a fact that his adopted state of Idaho might have held against him, but never did. After a stint at San Bernardino Valley College, he transferred north to the University of Idaho in Moscow, where he earned a degree in political science, served as student body president, and found the place he would always call home. He also found his future
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