Sam Donaldson: Homage to a Broadcast Legend

Feb. 26, 2009 -- We were a few hours into a very long Election Night and, suddenly, Sam Donaldson was talking about fat ladies.

Barack Obama was winning big, although it was far too early for a final projection. And so the inimitable newsman and legendary television personality was explaining that John McCain's team shouldn't give up hope.

"You can't just throw it in, not until the fat lady sings," Donaldson said, probably not knowing what would come out of his mouth next. I squirmed a bit in my chair to his left, very much not sure of what he would say.

"Or a lady or a gentleman of any particular svelteness," he added, tossing a dash of political correctness onto the latest little conflagration he started on the set.

Unmatched Storytelling

The wonderful thing about working with Sam Donaldson was not the unmatched storytelling, the savvy questioning or even the vast institutional knowledge he brought after nearly five decades of covering politics on television.

It was the freshness he brought to every sentence he uttered on the air, the energy and enthusiasm he has maintained right through his retirement from full-time work at ABC News this week.

It made for some interesting moments along the way. But you could always count on a show.

Long before I met Sam Donaldson, I felt I knew Sam Donaldson. Who didn't? The look, the voice, the smirk, the swagger -- it all became part of the collective national consciousness from the time I was first watching the news on television.

What Sets Sam Apart

It wasn't until I worked alongside him, though, that I could appreciate what sets Sam apart as a journalist, a communicator, and a man.

I had the distinct pleasure of sitting a few feet away from Donaldson throughout what I can safely describe as the most interesting election of either of our lifetimes. From the Iowa caucuses through Election Night, through countless hours of constant coverage at the conventions, and through a five-day-a-week political program on ABC News NOW, the enthusiasm for his craft never waned, not for an instant.

Red Ties Only, Please

The look was always the same, the "full Donaldson": white shirt, blue coat, red tie. That was the outfit that looked best in black-and-white, he once told me. Sometimes people would send him a tie; if it wasn't red, it didn't get on air.

He never brought anything less than everything to every effort. Sam prepared impeccably for every program, writing and rewriting scripts, preparing questions and anecdotes, aiming for the very best guests, rehearsing every script before going live.

The stamina and intensity was most impressive at the conventions, where the coverage was non-stop, often hours of continuous conversation without even a 60-second break. Remarkably, he was just as at ease interviewing Charlie Rangel or Terry McAuliffe or Newt Gingrich as he was John Legend or Perez Hilton or Melissa Etheridge.

"will.i.am, Sam I am," he said, offering his hand to the Black Eyed Peas front-man.

When something went wrong, technically or journalistically, he wasn't happy about it, and he let everyone around him know it. That wasn't particularly fun to be around but the message was always the same: He was there to deliver the best, most professional, most informative broadcast he could.

It didn't matter to him that this wasn't "World News," or "Primetime" or "This Week." Every show needed the same attention, whether it was a two-minute commentary for the Web, or network coverage on Election Night.

Sam and the 2008 Election

I was brand new to television when I joined ABC in 2007, a former print reporter whose main job is writing a blog. But he never treated me as anything less than a full equal.

On and off the set, although his jokes had a tendency to crack himself up most of all, his oddly boyish, high-pitched "tee-hee" laughs were infectious. The references to Thucydides or Churchill or Proverbs sailed over most of our heads. But he was always going somewhere with the reference, and it was always a pleasure to get there.

The enthusiasm was irresistible: Here was Sam Donaldson, running on no sleep the morning after the election, thrilled to be alive and on television. How could anyone bring less than their full excitement?

Tee-Hee to the Very End

I ran into him I the makeup room today, his next to last day working full time at ABC.

"We have Chuck Grassley on today," he said. "Senator," he said, trying out a question for the Iowa Republican, "surely you support the president's fiscal discipline when it comes to cutting agricultural subsidies? Tee-hee!"

Working With a Broadcast Legend

To see how people reacted to him reminded us all that we were working with a legend. Members of Congress, governors, actors, musicians -- they gushed over themselves talking about how honored they were to be interviewed by him.

People would sometimes react with surprise when learning that Donaldson was anchoring a show on a digital cable outlet, reaching, as he liked to say half-jokingly, "dozens." Surely he didn't need the exposure, or the money, they'd say.

But such a reaction misunderstands what makes Sam tick. He wasn't on television for the ego boost. He does it, and has always done it, because he loves it. He is a first-rate character. But there's no false modesty with Sam because there's nothing false in the man.

Always Sam

In person, some broadcasters are warmer than they are on camera; for some, it's the reverse. Sam is always Sam, exactly the same outsized personality on camera as he is off.

For some reason, one lasting memory of Sam Donaldson came a few days before the Iowa caucuses.

Sam was sitting on the floor. He was there, I should note, by choice. His sat with his legs crossed, and was uncharacteristically silent, when I casually asked why he was on the floor.

There was a certain individual, he said, that he did not want to see. He had seen this person walk near the ABC workspace, and rather than ignore him, or be forced into an encounter he'd rather avoid, he was hiding.

"If he should see me," he bellowed, apparently unafraid of being heard, now that he was seen by someone, "the story is, I fell, and you all let me stay here, prone."

Of course, Sam couldn't sit still for long. A few minutes later, he was back on his feet, sharing a laugh with the person he was trying to avoid. There was no conversation he could truly resist.

Rick Klein is a senior political reporter for ABC News and is author of The Note. Since 2007, he has been a regular co-host with Sam Donaldson of "Politics Live" on ABC NewsNOW, and he co-anchored ABC NewsNOW's convention, debate, and Election Night coverage with Donaldson in 2008.