I thought writing about somebody current would be a little closer to what I'm used to doing.

Ted Kennedy is the only person alive who might know more than we do about Chappaquiddick, and he may not.

There's a Washington standard of casually putting things off the record. It's really gone too far. I don't know an easy way to turn it back.

Another thing that's quite different in writing a book as a practicing newspaperman is that if you look at what you've written the next morning and you think you didn't get it quite right, you can fix it.

Democratic politicians have disliked things I've written, Republican politicians... if they all love you, you might as well be driving a Good Humor truck.

When I came back to Washington to be The Times' chief congressional correspondent in 1991, I was looking for a book subject, and Ted Kennedy stood out for two reasons.