I tend to place my own value in spirituality rather than religiosity.

The rumors of Frank Sinatras violence and his ties to organized crime were such that journalists joked in print about me ending up in concrete boots and sleeping with the fishes if I proceeded to write his biography.

Most historians agree that Abraham Lincoln was the most important man to ever occupy the White House because he abolished slavery and kept the states united through a bloody civil war.

Barack Obama and Michelle Obama don't go to Georgetown. The Clintons did, indeed. And the Clintons go out and about in Washington now. They go to neighborhood restaurants.

I would love to do an unauthorized biography about Congress. It's like a secret society up there.

I admired Eugene McCarthy’s courage and although I left his Senate staff after four years to accept a job as the researcher on the editorial page of the Washington Post, I remained an admirer.

I was raised Irish Catholic and went to Holy Names Academy, an all-girl's private Catholic school. I loved the nuns there and I love them to this day.