I've always liked Jane Pauley; here's what she's up to

For Pauley, the focus is on the future
Ex-'Today' anchor's transition after leaving TV included campaign tour
By John Kiesewetter / Cincinnati Enquirer
Posted: January 11, 2009

Jane Pauley returned to her native Indiana in October for something she had never done before.

The former "Today" show and "Dateline" anchor campaigned for Barack Obama -- an involvement in politics prohibited during her 31-year TV news career.

"I wouldn't even wear a campaign button," says Pauley, 58, about her days at NBC. "This was the first time in my adult life that I ever campaigned for someone. I really criss-crossed Indiana. I got a thorough dose of home."

Pauley will urge fellow baby boomers to get involved with -- or give back to -- society during a lecture Tuesday in Cincinnati.

The Indianapolis native left TV after NBC canceled her "Jane Pauley" daytime talk show in 2005. She lives in New York City with her husband, "Doonesbury" cartoonist Garry Trudeau. She spoke recently by phone about her current activities.

Question: Are you retired?

Answer: No, I'm just unemployed. I don't think of myself as retired at all, but there is a definite period of transition, when we're trying to figure out what we want to do and get it under way.

Q: How did you get involved with the Obama campaign?

A: In October, I contacted the state Democratic committee and asked if Jane Pauley could help Obama in Indiana. And immediately the answer came back: "Yes, she can!" This year, many people wanted to do more than they've done in the past. It felt we had taken a wrong turn in so many ways -- my children's future, the optimism in this country, the economy was off to a bad start. The war was protracted. It seemed we needed a new direction. Something about that individual was inspiring.

Q: Do you miss TV?

A: I don't, really.

Q: Will you talk a lot about your career in your speech?

A: The (lecture) has very little to do with my career, because the focus is on the future and where I'm going. I love the freedom of not having a boss -- that's probably the most common refrain I hear from people 45 and up. They yearn to do something different, something more meaningful -- but do it on their own terms and without a boss.

Retirement used to be a destination, where you go to retire. My parents went to Florida. According to the AARP, my generation is interested in staying put. For them, retirement is more of an abstraction: What are you going to do? We might have one, two or three decades to do it, and it's unprecedented. That's the topic. Practical inspiration.

Q: So what will you talk about?

A: My life expectancy as a woman is to live 13 years longer than my mother or maternal grandmother. We'll not only have a longer life expectancy but a longer health expectancy. We'll be healthier longer because we survive things other generations did not survive.

You realize that 10,000 people turn 60 every day? And none of us baby boomers have turned 65 yet. Because of the prosperity we enjoyed, we must reinvest our skills and our hearts in a way to help the country move forward. We need to make people grateful that we were here, and we haven't done it yet. Because eventually our children and those younger than us will be the ones taking care of us. We need to do something really redeeming in the next 20 years.

Q: In 2004, you wrote "Skywriting: A Life Out of the Blue," a memoir that disclosed your bipolar disorder. Are you writing another book?

A: No. Nothing would make me happier. Plenty of books are written by people who have plenty to say, but I don't have anything to say.

Q: How did you get into television?

A: Right out of Indiana University (where she received a political science degree in 1971) I worked briefly for the Indiana Democratic State Central Committee. That's when I learned that WISH-TV (Channel 8 in Indianapolis) was looking for a "female-type reporter." I had no experience in journalism or TV, but I had been governor of Indiana Girls State and an extemporaneous speaker in high school. I felt qualified, so I got a $125-a-week job in television.

Q: Are you going to Obama's inaugural?

A: One of my first assignments for the "Today" show was covering the Carter inauguration parade (in 1977). I spilled a cup of coffee on Tom Brokaw's notes minutes before the first band stepped off. Based on my service in Indiana, if I wanted to stand in frigid Washington, I could get a ticket. But I'd rather be sitting in front of my television crying, and let other people experience it.