'Met Bill Plante last night at an alumni event at his high school up in Wilmette. My aunt, who from here on out shall be referred to as my "booking agent," invited me along.

After a full day of editing, I made the necessary B-line straight for the open bar (woo-hoo!), ordered a scotch, no soda...and was suddenly and unexpectedly escorted by my aunt to meet Mr. Plante before his talk - the generous portion of scotch exposing me for the sad alcoholic I am. 'A great first impression.

And naturally, since my brain had already gone on powersave and I'd spent the last 45 minutes fighting traffic, I was like a deer in headlights trying to make psued-intelligent journalism banter with a distinguished 40-year veteran CBS White House correspondent. 'An even better second impression.

Plante had a good talk/Q&A session on the election - how it played out and why it played out the way it did. He made some of the main points that have already been out there, i.e., that had the Dems not nominated someone resembling a marble sculpture to take on the president, Bush woulda been toast.

He made an interesting point about FoxNews: Distinguishing it not as ideology-driven but market-driven, which is true. 'Doesn't make that outlet any less hateable.

During the Q&A, in the middle of a sea of hands eager to half-question/half-ramble on incoherently and vent about the election, I threw him a random curveball question about Judith Miller and her recent excellent adventures. Plante answered, and while everyone else was scratching their heads about where the hell that came from and who the hell was this snotty kid trying to show off to Mr.-Important-Journalist-guy, I took down his answer and now I've got a CBS White House correspondent as a source for my term paper. ...Ha, take that motherfuckers!

I'm sure you're all very excited. ...Thanks.