These hearings can be gruelling for all concerned. But like long floor debates, their marathon nature seems to reveal if a nominee has "the right stuff". True, there's a lot of cynical posturing and theater. My job was to distill the "good stuff" out of 5 hours of video.

Speaking of Senator Wyden: Many years ago, in Eugene, Oregon, Wyden was
a young politico looking for a higher profile at a time when the station I worked for
started a one-hour newscast on Saturday - pretty rare in the "old days." Ron, not yet a public office holder, would call me and pitch his various good causes and ask me, "How can I get on your air?" And I told him, "Do your events on Saturdays when we need to fill up this one hour show."

So, from Eugene to U.S. Senator from Oregon. The power of local newscasts! I'm not sure if Senator Wyden would recall events as I do. It was a while back. And be assured: such informal quid-pro-quos have long since become strictly no-nos.