The Nation - News from Dec. 15, 1987

Nearly three-fourths of the 216,746 signatures needed to force Arizona Gov. Evan Mecham to face a recall election have been verified so far, officials said. “We’re going to have a recall election, folks, let’s face it,” said Mecham Recall Committee founder Ed Buck. “If the Republican Party had a brain in its head, they would be searching for a candidate right now.” The GOP governor, who was elected in 1986, has come under fire for such actions as rescinding the state Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday and defending use of the word “pickaninny.”