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COKIE ROBERTS
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Cokie Roberts pulls into the driveway of her tree-shaded home in the woodsy Washington suburb of
Bethesda, Md., and stands there, cool and put together on this sultry afternoon in July. She totes a box inside
of which is a new Rota-dent electric toothbrush. '`Too damned expensive," she grumbles. But that's Cokie.
Practical and homebody-ish, the high-powered congressional reporter for ABC News and National Public
Radio (NPR) describes herself as a "suburban housewife" who was in the PTA when her children were
younger, and who assumes the frugal position that one ought to get value for one's dollar.
It's a little surprising that such a vigorous, fortysomething journalist is so disarmingly old-fashioned. She
doesn't even sweat to the oldies at her local health club in this fitness-focused city: "I get plenty of exercise
all day on my feet in the Senate!"
The working Cokie (Mary Martha Corinne Morrison Claiborne Boggs Roberts) is described by one former
ABC producer as "funny, articulate, tough, loves to talk-appreciates good-looking men." Colleagues say
she's good at what she does because she understands the political process and isn't daunted by it. Linda
Wertheimer, an NPR
anchor, swears she has an "ear" for politics, the way some people have an ear for music. And, of course, it's
true. She's the child of the late Democratic congressman from Louisiana, Hale Boggs, and his wife, Lindy
Boggs, who assumed her husband's congressional seat in 1973 after his plane vanished somewhere over
Alaska.
There's a certain irony here. Cokie grew up on politics, but she gravitated to journalism, a profession
requiring the deepest suspicion of all things political. Yet her sister, Barbara Boggs Sigmund, was mayor of
the borough of Princeton, N.J., until she succumbed to cancer two years ago, at age 51. Her younger brother,
Tom Boggs, is a respected Washington insider. So and what happened to Cokie? How did she wind up "on
the other side?"
"I was raised to be skeptical of the media-and right they were," she laughs. "But here I am, a reporter,
telling sometimes 'vicious truths.'"
The graceful Colonial-style home she invites us into also was home for her parents; she's lived there 40
years, for the past 26 with her husband, U.S. News & World Report Editor Steven V. Roberts, and their two
children, Lee, 23, and Rebecca, 21.
Despite her claim to the role of suburban wife and mother who just happens to be one of the hottest media
lights in town, Cokie is inescapably dramatic. There are the riveting pale blue eyes, the short wash-and-wear
frosted hair, the dappled sunlight complexion, all put together with an easy self-assurance.
She sips chardonnay (a wine that conservative Pat Buchanan associates with liberalism), and when she talks
she projects herself straight to the center of a question or any other object of her scrutiny. One can't help
feeling she'd be a formidable detective, which is really what she is as a working journalist. It's not easy to
conjure up the homebody in one who lives 12 hours a day on Capitol Hill, and who, five years ago, captured
her very own bully pulpit as one of the panel members of ABC's classy and cutting political issues show, This
Week With David Brinkley.
"It was a trial by fire at first,'' she recalls of her early days on the show. "Now Sam [Donaldson] says I'm
'one of the boys.' "
Well, maybe. But she's not your typical old-boy networker. She may throw a book party for a friend, and a
great many local heavies will show up. Yet aside from such friendly gestures, "I'm a very unpublic person,"
she insists. "I work long days and don't sleep much. I'm first and foremost a family person." It just so
happens that this family person is up at dawn, devours the morning papers, does her first radio broadcast.
from home in a nightie and is on Capitol Hill by eight ("If I don't have any TV assignments..."). Twelve hours
later, she's home in time to whip up dinner in her big, country-style kitchen.
That's a lot of non-homebody action, and she has the professional accolades to prove it. No matter how hard
she tries, the unpublic Cokie is indisputably, and perhaps irreversibly? in. She accepted an invitation to
appear on NBC's Late Night With David Letterman-a solid coup of coups in show biz circles. "My kids were
afraid I'd embarrass them to their hundreds of friends," she says. "They don't care what I say on the news.
My son gave me a video so I could get ready for Letterman. I flew down after the New Hampshire primary,
no sleep for two days, and can't remember a thing I said."
Now, there-Cokie may protest all she wants, but not remembering Letterman may be as in as "in" gets.
INTERVIEW
Our interview with Cokie took place two weeks after the Democratic Convention. She had lots to tell us
-about who women will vote for in '92, how the media shapes political issues, why the character issue persists,
why American big business is the culprit in our current recession -and all about Ross, George, Bill and
Hillary-and who will win the White House in November.
How much does the media influence or shape issues in a political campaign?
I give the media less credit or blame than others do. We do these massive pieces, particularly early in the
campaign, about the environment, where are the candidates on defense, on health. I don't think people pay
very much attention to those things unless they're concerned about it anyway.
What about the so-called "bimbo news"-digging into the private lives of candidates? Is it out of hand?
Obviously, to some degree it's getting out of hand. I think below the presidential level it has little place in the
discourse, unless there's something illegal. But questions along these lines are valid if someone is a harasser,
if someone shows an attitude toward women that is clear through the way he treats women in his life. It
affects my vote. At the presidential level, Americans vote based very much on the guy, not the issues. The
character question is terribly significant. Ronald Reagan, on almost every issue, disagreed with the American
people, and yet he won with two landslides.
You've covered 11 political conventions. From the outside they seem chaotic. What's it like for a reporter?
Horrendous! It's like childbirth: If you remembered it, you'd never do it again. You're standing for hours,
walking long distances; you have people pushing and shoving, all kinds of cacophony going on in your head;
people speaking in both ears, plus whatever's going out of the microphones. By the time you're done with a
night on the floor all you want to do is collapse. But you only get to collapse two or three hours, because
you're back up for the morning news.
Do political talk shows, such as This Week With David Brinkley help candidates get elected-or unelected?
Not unless somebody says something truly stupid. I think, for instance, that the Brinkley program with John
Tower had everything to do with his not being confirmed as secretary of defense. [He] was having troubles,
but the Senate wasn't hearing very much about it from the voters. Then he decided to go on [TV] and "take
the pledge." He promised that he wouldn't drink again if he were confirmed. And to most Americans that just
said, "This guy's got a drinking problem." But by and large, I think these shows just add to the debate, and
that's what they're meant to do.
How did President Bush personally take his big drop in the polls after the Democratic Convention?
The feeling I'm getting out of the Republican party generally is real despair and panic. I think the president
feels that way less than other people. It's interesting-he was certain Ross Perot would self-destruct. He kept
telling his friends, "Look, I'm from Texas, I know people who know Ross Perot, and this guy is not going to
make it. There's no staying power there." There's a strong sense in the Republican camp that [former
Secretary of State] Jim Baker is the one person who can say, "Look, here is how you have to behave,
George Bush. No more golf! Pictures in coats and ties. Be on the job." And I think that's probably true.
Was Ross Perot a precursor to some thing we may really need, like an independent party?
We've had runs at it. In the 1912 election, it was a third party that gave the election to Woodrow Wilson.
We've had third parties that have been significant. [But] I don't think we need a third party. I think Perot
performed a service by a) getting a lot of people involved who I hope stay involved, and b) making political
parties understand how fed up people are with everything.
So you don't fed that Perot let the country down?
No, I think he provided a service. We've always come together in our political process. It's important to us,
psychologically, that we not fractionalize the political process, because we're so different, so heterogeneous.
If we made the thing that brings us together fractionalized, that would be terrifying. I think a third party does
that. Perot had the effect of shaking things up a little and sending things back to the two-party system.
Do you think Bill Clinton is too soft, too willing to please?
Most politicians have been in the position most of their lives where they're forced to compromise. That's
what politics is all about. There's been all sorts of pop psychology about Clinton being the child of an
alcoholic, and on and on. His problem is that he comes to us in a year when people are looking for something
a little tougher.
Has Hillary Clinton been pressured to change her image for political reasons? She's a very smart woman who
has led a life that's different from many political wives. She's now on a testing ground. I actually think one of
the big differences is that her husband was a governor as opposed to a Washington based person. Marilyn
Quayle, who's also a lawyer and a very smart person, was much more forced to put her career aside because
of the same problem that all Washington wives have- the two household problem. It's hard to have a job and
live in two cities. Because Hillary Clinton was based in Little Rock, as was her husband, she was able to have
a career. And that's different. We're not used to that.
This has been called the "Year of the Woman" in politics. Will women get out to vote en masse this year,
and, if so, which way are they likely to swing?
We have no way of knowing if women will get out en masse this year. They did not get out en masse in the
primaries. What we've seen in the primaries this year is women voting overwhelmingly for women, but we
haven't seen a change in turnout. What we can predict is that women activists are gendered up, and women
contributors for the first time are very involved. Women are giving more money than ever before, and they're
giving it to women candidates.
Will abortion rights be a focal point for women in this election?
A lot of women who are for abortion rights will vote for George Bush. And they know where he stands. We
have absolutely no evidence that choice has ever played a role at the presidential level. It could be this year
because of Perot and the question of the [Supreme] Court.
If not choice, which issues are high on the agenda?
What women vote on is economics. They have a different view than men do. They say, not consciously, "Gee,
I'm worried that my mother needs to get her Social Security and her Medicare, and I've got a job at the
library that's about to be cut back, my kid's school lunch program is in danger, and my brother-in-law has
been laid off and he's moved in, my grocery bills are going up." Women's response to the economy is to want
more government. Men want fewer taxes. And that's why women vote Democratic and men vote Republican.
Do you think women will pick up many seats in Congress?
We're now at an all-time high, 29. It's possible that number could be doubled. I've kind of gone through it
seat by seat. It's still to be decided. But I think we could pick up a good 10 more women in the House, and
that would be unbelievable.
Is there a pattern to the female vote?
Older women are reluctant to vote for women. When Democratic women are running, that's a problem,
because older women are, along with blacks, the base of the Democratic party. If a Democrat doesn't get a
very strong older-woman vote, the Democrat loses. That's my analysis of what happened to Diane Feinstein
in 1990. Looking at her exit polls, she did not do well with older women. I think, too, that the Clarence
Thomas thing has had an effect. I think that is carrying through this year.
In your opinion, is the economy our most pressing overall issue?
The economy as a whole, and the deficit in particular. The reason the deficit is so important is that it acts as a
real girdle in keeping us from doing anything that's significant or creative. Somebody's got to have the guts
to do the things necessary to deal with it.
Do you see that kind of political leadership out there?
Most politicians are truly public servants. My complaint is not that they are unrepresentative-it's that they're
over-representative. Too much finger in the wind to see where the people are, and follow them rather than
provide the kind of leadership the country needs.
Would you ever run for office?
No! I know what it's like. I'm the only member of my nuclear family who hasn't run for office. I don't have the
moral fortitude for it.
Business and the news media have maintained a long, uneasy standoff. There's lots of mutual suspicion. W~
this change anytime soon?
Well, the media distrusts everyone. That's our job, to look at every institution with a gimlet eye. I think
American business has a lot of learning to do. I think the short-term strategy of business is very detrimental.
Managers [are] lopping off people who've worked 25 years and saying, "The thing to do is hire the temp and
let the person who's been in there forever go." [It's] the single biggest thing contributing to consumer lack of
confidence. People don't believe they'll have their jobs, no matter how hard they've worked and how well
they've performed. I think small business, on the other hand, which is the major employer by far, has been
seriously neglected by the political system. In an era when you have deficits like we have now, and politicians
are trying to please voters and don't have the money to do it, their answer is to mandate businesses to do
it-whether it's family leave or health care or pension plans or whatever. And that is terribly expensive for
small business.
Who will win the White House?
My money's on George Bush. He is certainly doing his best to lose it, and at the moment we're speaking
there's tremendous interest in the Clinton/Gore ticket. We could be at a time when people say, "Okay, the
Cold War is over, [Bush] did a good job ending the Cold War, now let's move on. Let's have a new
generation." That makes a certain amount of visceral sense. On the other hand, people know George Bush
has been president. They might not like the way the economy is, but they're eating and living, and they don't
know what the other guys are like. Change is scary. But it's a year when anybody who makes predictions is a
crazy person.