Between the Lines, Online: Boxers or Briefs?

Back in 1992, I took a part-time gig with MTV, analyzing politics on camera and helping produce the network's town meetings with politicians. My job was to work with Tabitha Soren, the MTV anchor, devising some fresh questions. She was a natural and effective interviewer whose youth and rock-and-roll vibe let her slip in more curve balls than her stuffier counterparts on the broadcast networks. Our aim was to make every question from Tabitha and the kids in the audience count.

The first "Rock the Vote" town meeting with Gov. Bill Clinton, assembled on a sound stage in Hollywood, was a ratings smash. Clinton was then running third in the polls behind President George H.W. Bush and Ross Perot and the appearance helped jump-start his campaign, particularly with young voters. It was also endlessly dissected by the media as the fusion of entertainment and politics.

At the end of the program, we launched what we called the "rapid round." In the rehearsal beforehand, we requested that kids pose very short questions to Clinton. On the show, one asked whom he would appoint to the Supreme Court if elected. When Clinton answered "Mario Cuomo" (who later turned down the appointment), it made news. Bush also submitted to an interview with Tabitha, from the back of a train, but he was testy that day and he wouldn't answer questions from kids, which hurt his campaign.

Around this time, I went skiing in Aspen, Colo., with my brother and a couple of his friends. I mentioned to Terry McDonnell (now managing editor of Sports Illustrated) where I was going and he asked a favor. Dr. Hunter S. Thompson owed his friend Terry a piece about Jack Nicholson, who also had a place in Aspen. Thompson was months late delivering the Nicholson story for Terry's magazine. Would I make contact with the good doctor and remind him that Terry wanted the article? Having missed the glory days of Rolling Stone, when Jann Wenner was famous for hunting down Hunter for copy, I happily obliged.