hostages were seized and the government would have cleaned that out in five days which meant that ted koppel's late night program would have been canceled and he would never have had night line. >> charlie: speaking of different people, you take note of certain kinds of events but you do not follow them through if al gore had been elected president. >> i don't even get anywhere near that because that ends in 1980. i thought about doing the gore beats bush scenario and decided not to, and i might again, assuming that there's a demand for more of this. i have a way of the president that by the way has nothing to do with the pump -- palm beach ballot. >> charlie: you're best at writing the domestic political stuff. >> that's fair. >> charlie: you were a speech writer for robert kennedy. >> yes. >> charlie: if he had gone to a meeting and not gone through the kitchen. >> then that was the last minute decision. what i found in doing my research, this was chilling, the john kennedy library, it was the history of steve smith his brother-in-law who says i always blame myself for what happens because i

reporting from washington, ted koppel. >> good evening. considered, is reasonably good. president reagan after successful surgery is resting comfortably at george washington hospital here in the capital. his press secretary james brady shot through the head during the same assassination attempt this afternoon. brady has now come out of 4 1/2 hours of surgery and the surgeon says brady's prognosis is certainly better than it was earlier this afternoon. secret service agent tim mccarthy also shot is in good condition. direct of columbia police officer thomas delahanty is in serious but stable condition. now the famous piece of videotape. watch it and listen to it. >> mr. president. president reagan! [ gunshots ] >> back up, back up! >> get him out! get him out! get him out! now! >> all right. stay back. get back. get the ambulance! >> all right, stay back! get the ambulance! >> i got one hand. >> get down! >> my husband! my husband! >> get in the car. >> everybody out of the way. >> with us now here in our washington studios is chuck vance,