I always saw the best reporters as ones you hardly ever saw other than when they were back in the newsroom, writing their stories.

I didn't like being in a newsroom all the time.

If there's any success that I've had, it is a direct reflection of the people I work with. We have a very smart team and an extremely hardworking team, both here in Washington and back in Illinois.

Sitting around our kitchen table from a very early age on, we talked politics, and we talked policy. Never once can I ever remember my dad saying, 'Go away, this is an adult conversation.'

From the time I was a little girl, I'd just always been naturally curious. And I was raised in a family that... would just get really worked up about inequities and unfairness.

I get up at 4:30 A.M. pretty much every morning during the week. I work out for an hour and a half. I do weights and I ride the bike, I run or I play tennis. It's my release.