And on election night I'd go down to city hall in El Paso, Texas and cover the election. In those days, of course, we didn't have exit polls. You didn't know who had won the election until they actually counted the votes. I thought that was exciting too.

Well, I was born in El Paso, Texas, it was in the nearest hospital to the family farm.

It was kind of exciting being on the radio. Not everybody was on the radio.

My mother gave me a push. If I hadn't had her, maybe I wouldn't have had the push. If I hadn't gone to military school, maybe I wouldn't have decided to get with the program. Maybe I'd be running a bulldozer, rather than going on and doing something more.

In 27 years of reporting from Washington, I've never heard a President admit he made a mistake.

So when I cover the president, I try to remember two things: First, if you don't ask, you don't find out; and second, the questions don't do the damage. Only the answers do.

News conferences are the only chance the American public has to see Ronald Reagan use his mind.