Ted Kennedy and me

It’s truly the end of Camelot with the passing of Sen. Ted Kennedy. Both beloved and hated — typical of most Washington leaders — the final member of the clan ends a half century of what some called America’s royalty.

I crossed paths once with Kennedy where I learned a valuable lesson about covering politicians — nothing is as it appears. I was a college sophomore working for the school paper when word came that Kennedy would appear on campus for a campaign stop in his 1980 bid for president. The staff huddled for hours working on one question we expected to ask. Instead, Kennedy took three questions from people so obviously planted in the crowd that even an 19-year-old like myself walked away knowing the whole thing was a setup.

It was a good lesson for a young journalist — don’t trust politicians.