WI: Arizona Governor Bruce Babbitt runs for Barry Goldwater’s Senate Seat in 1986?

What if then popular Democratic Governor Bruce Babbitt decided to run for Senate in 1986 when Barry Goldwater opted to retire instead of making a fruitless attempt at the 1988 democratic presidential nomination? Would he have been able to beat Congressman John McCain? If so, what impact would Senator Babbitt have without a Senator McCain? What happens to McCain’s political career?
 
On the one hand, Richard Kimball lost the 86 Senate race in AZ by a huge margin; 60.5% - 39.5%. On the other, he doesn't appear to have had any substantial history in statewide electoral politics (obviously not a problem for Babbitt) before that race, and was described as being "terminally weird." 86 was also a good year for the Democrats, picking up 8 seats. So I think if anyone could beat McCain, Babbitt would be the one.

McCain...probably tries to return to the House, or makes a run for Governor. There's also a chance that he ends up a cabinet member for either Reagan or Bush, at least assuming Bush still wins in 88. From there he might be able to build an even better political network, but whatever happens I don't see him just giving up.
 
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