I have loved politics since I was a little kid growing up in Milwaukee. I also loved newspapers and how the media covered politics. Thus began a career path that took me from delivering the morning Milwaukee Sentinel to broadcasting jobs from Washington, DC to San Francisco and everywhere in between!

My major writing influences were people who wrote about people and politics. They include Theordore H. White, R.W. "Johnny" Apple, Jr., Studs Terkel, Chris Matthews, David Broder, Charles Kuralt , Kenneth Walsh and others.