This Just In: It Didn't Happen

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When I was just starting this column in December 1971, I remember saying to one of my Monitor colleagues: "How in the world am I going to keep this going, week after week?" That concern never really leaves you. "What to write about? What to write about?" That question is always nagging at you. But - somehow - you get the job done. And the 25 years have flown by!

My first columns came out of my coverage of the early stages of the 1972 presidential campaign. I was slogging through the deep snows of New Hampshire, witnessing Ed Muskie's sudden decline and George McGovern's equally sudden rise. I was keeping an eye on the GOP candidate, Richard Nixon, too. But, as a sitting …