In early 1982, one of my several housemates at the time informed me that he would be leaving our place in Tempe, Ariz., and moving into a spare room in the home of a newly married couple nearby, the husband a former POW and all-but-announced candidate for Congress. My friend had been hired as the aspiring congressman’s very first full-time political aide. And, as soon as he had settled in, he wanted to introduce his new employer to me and a few others we knew from Arizona State University. Would I like to come by and meet John McCain?