NEIL RUBIN
Senior Editor, Jewish News Group
olfmaaaan!
How you
doin'?"
screams
the larg-
er-than-life
face of
Democratic .
spinmeister James
Carville as it fills
the TV screen in
the Cable News
Network's
Washington, D.C.,
studio. Carville is
speaking, of course, to
Wolf Blitzer, host of
CNN's Sunday talk show Late Edition.
Blitzer barely holds back a grin as he offers "my
warmest" to the Carville family. A half-hour earlier,
he'd wished Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari "good
luck" in his visit to Belgrade, on the eve of the politi-
cian's peace-seeking journey that would help end the
Kosovo war. He ended another broadcast with
"Happy Father's Day to all you fathers out there, and
especially to my dad in Florida."
The greetings are a typical part of the "nice guy
of the news" demeanor that has accompanied Blitzer
— raised in a traditional Jewish home in Buffalo,
N.Y., the son of Polish Holocaust survivors and a for-
mer Camp Ramah participant — to the top of his
profession.
Even casual viewers of the television news world
know his name.
Recognition of it soared eight years ago, like a ris-
ing SCUD missile that refused to land, from Blitzer's
seemingly omnipresent live Pentagon broadcasts dur-
ing the Gulf War.
When you are in the right place at the right time
and you do something about it, and you do it right,
you get lucky," he says during an interview in the
nation's capital. "I worked hard, and obviously it was
harder for me because I was not used to television.
But fortunately TV is not brain surgery, and CNN
gave me good producers and people."
After the Gulf War, Blitzer covered the 1992 presi-
dential campaign trail. Since then, he's served as
senior White House correspondent and taken special
assignments. He just left his White House post to
prepare for his new job as anchor of the network's
revamped World Today broadcast, which will air week-
days at 8 p.m. In addition, he'll continue to serve as
host of Late Edition, which airs noon Sundays.
Along the way, he's been there live as the commu-
nist flag came down at the Kremlin, when then-
Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton celebrated a presidential
victory, and when Ehud Barak reveled in becoming
Israel's prime minister-elect.
And he's traded the belligerent, in-your-face style
of some colleagues for an even-toned, straightforward
demeanor when reporting and interviewing.
That has earned Blitzer professional respect and
helped his reams win an Emmy, a Golden CableACE
award and a "Best In The Business Award" from
American Journalism Review.
In addition, a comic sort of celebrity has arisen. It
comes from the unusual name — it's real — and, of all
things, the bright white beard. A Saturday Night Live skit
focused on Blitzer having "the best name of the Gulf
War." The popular Capitol Steps improvisation group
performed a song about him. Television talk show host .
David Letterman featured the facial hair in a top 10 list.
For his part, Blitzer seems to enjoy the attention
while not being consumed by it. About Saturday
Night Live, he says, "That was cool. It was really fun
for my daughter and my colleagues who could have a
good laugh at me."
This interviewer catches up with Wolf
Blitzer just as he finishes the live broadcast of Late
Edition, the 90-minute, behind-the-headlines pro-
gram that's become regular viewing for Sunday morn-
ing talk show fans.
His day begins, as it does every Sunday, with a
6:30 a.m. perusal of the New York Times and
Washington Post, Two hours later, Blitzer arrives at
CNN's office in Washington.
Today, off-camera preparation with producers and
assistants includes writing and rewriting the script,
figuring out Finland's time zone and confirming the
number of dead at Arlington National Cemetery.
Finally, at 11:55 a.m., comes the order. "Let's get
him in the studio," senior executive producer Lucy
Spiegel tells her colleagues. So Blitzer dons his jacket
and makes the brisk walk around the corner and
down the hallway.
After a last moment check from the Atlanta director,
Blitzer sips from his Late Edition coffee mug and gives a
final shuffle to index cards. For the next 90 minutes, he
and guest newsmakers primarily focus on the Kosovo
crisis.
When it's over, a relaxed, engaging and now make-
up-free Blitzer appears in the nearby conference room
to discuss his career and his private life.
Blitzer's obsession with national and world affairs
began in the summer of 1968, which he spent at
Hebrew University in Jerusalem. (His first trip to the
Jewish state was in 1961 when he became a bar mitzva.)
After graduation from State University of New York at
Buffalo came a master's degree in international relations
from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced
International Studies. Blitzer then returned to Israel for a
two-year reporting stint with the Reuters News Agency.
"I wasn't sure I wanted to be a journalist," he says,
" but they had some really great people who taught
me the trade.
"