Could you tell us about your charity?
I'm playing for the American Cancer Society because, uh, I believe that cancer's such a killer, I'd like to see it eradicated. It's done so much damage to so many people, including my own dad. So I'd--I'd like to see this, uh, this disease removed.
What's more important: winning or having fun?
I want to have a lot of fun. I'd like to have a lot of fun. But I really want to win, because winning would be really great.
Did you prepare differently for this appearance than the last time?
I did--I did, uh, almost everything I did the last time. I, uh, exercised my thumb. I did some thumb wars. And, uh, you notice how that thumb is moving pretty well right now, so that was very important. I got on the treadmill and do a little thumb--thumb work on the treadmill. Uh, I also, uh, went through some of the almanac and stuff like that, uh, learned a lot of useless information. Uh, I did that the last time. It was all useless. Uh, so, I--but I figured, you know, it would be some good brain exercising.
Are you the Jeopardy! champ in your house?
Um... I'm the Jeopardy! champ. |
"Since 1990, he's covered every major story for CNN, including the 1991 Gulf War and Hurricane Katrina. Here's the host of The Situation Room, journalist..."
WOLF BLITZER
Playing on behalf of American Cancer Society
Wolf Blitzer is CNN's lead political anchor and the anchor of The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer, CNN's innovative, fast-paced political news program which airs in a three-hour block every weekday and in an hour-long format on Saturday evenings. Blitzer also serves as the network's lead political anchor. During the 2008 presidential election, Blitzer spearheaded CNN's Peabody Award-winning coverage of the presidential primary debates and campaigns. He also anchored programming surrounding all of the major political events, including both conventions, Election Night and the full-day coverage of President Barack Obama's inauguration. Blitzer led CNN's Emmy-winning "America Votes 2006" coverage and "America Votes 2004." During the 2004 election cycle, Blitzer anchored events including the Iowa caucuses, the New Hampshire primary, the Democratic and Republican national conventions, election night from NASDAQ in Times Square and President George W. Bush's second inauguration. For "Election 2000" coverage, Blitzer interviewed all of the major party presidential candidates, anchored Late Edition from the road, and hosted many of CNN's special events.
In addition to politics, Blitzer is also known for his in-depth reporting on international news. He reported from Israel in the midst of the war between that country and Hezbollah during the summer of 2006. In 2005, he was the only American news anchor to cover the Dubai Ports World story on the ground in the United Arab Emirates. He also traveled to the Middle East that year to report on the second anniversary of the war in Iraq. In 2003, Blitzer reported on the Iraq war from the Persian Gulf region.
Blitzer also served as the anchor of Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer for more than a decade. The program, which was seen in more than 200 countries around the world, featured interviews with presidents and heads of state, politicians, candidates and observers. Blitzer began his career in 1972 with the Reuters News Agency in Tel Aviv. Shortly thereafter, he became a Washington, D.C., correspondent for The Jerusalem Post. After more than 15 years of reporting from the nation's capital, Blitzer joined CNN in 1990 as the network's military-affairs correspondent at the Pentagon. He served as CNN's senior White House correspondent covering President Bill Clinton from his election in November 1992 until 1999. Over the decades, Blitzer has reported on a wide range of major breaking stories around the world that have shaped the international political landscape. In 1982, Blitzer was in Beirut during the withdrawal of PLO and Syrian forces. Blitzer covered the first Israeli-Egyptian peace conference in Egypt in 1977, and, in 1979, he traveled with then-President Jimmy Carter on visits to Egypt and Israel for the final round of negotiations that resulted in the signing of the Israel-Egypt peace treaty. He was onsite in 1973 when West German Chancellor Willy Brandt visited Israel, the first visit by a German chancellor since the Holocaust. In August 1991, Blitzer flew to Moscow shortly after the failed coup. He was among the first Western reporters invited into KGB headquarters for a rare inside look into the Soviet intelligence apparatus. He returned to Moscow in December 1991 to cover the collapse of the Soviet Union and the transition from Mikhail Gorbachev to Boris Yeltsin.
Blitzer has interviewed some of recent history's most notable figures including President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, and former Presidents Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford. Blitzer has also interviewed many foreign heads of state—former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, former South African President Nelson Mandela, among them—from locations around the world. Among the numerous honors he has received for his reporting, Blitzer is the recipient of an Emmy Award from The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for his 1996 coverage of the Oklahoma City bombing and a Golden CableACE from the National Academy of Cable Programming for his and CNN's coverage of the Persian Gulf War. He anchored CNN's Emmy-award winning live coverage of the 2006 Election Day. He was also among the teams awarded a George Foster Peabody award for Hurricane Katrina coverage; an Alfred I. duPont Award for coverage of the tsunami disaster in Southeast Asia; and an Edward R. Murrow Award for CNN's coverage of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in 2001. He is the recipient of the 2004 Journalist Pillar of Justice Award from the Respect for Law Alliance and the 2003 Daniel Pearl Award from the Chicago Press Veterans Association.
In November 2002, the American Veteran Awards honored him with the prestigious Ernie Pyle Journalism Award for excellence in military reporting, and, in February 2000, he received the Anti-Defamation League's Hubert H. Humphrey First Amendment Freedoms Prize. In 1999, Blitzer won the International Platform Association's Lowell Thomas Broadcast Journalism Award for outstanding contributions to broadcast journalism. In 1994, American Journalism Review cited him and CNN as the overwhelming choice of readers for the coveted Best in the Business Award for "best network coverage of the Clinton administration."
Blitzer is the author of two books, Between Washington and Jerusalem: A Reporter's Notebook (Oxford University Press, 1985) and Territory of Lies (Harper and Row, 1989). The latter was cited by The New York Times Book Review as one of the most notable books of 1989. He also has written articles for numerous publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times.
He earned a bachelor of arts degree in history from the State University of New York at Buffalo, a master of arts degree in international relations from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C. Blitzer has honorary degrees from The George Washington University in Washington, D.C.; State University of New York at Buffalo; King's College in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.; Gannon University in Erie, Pa.; Quinnipiac College in New Haven, Conn; St. Louis University, in St. Louis, Mo.; Western New England College in Springfield, Mass; D'Youville College in Buffalo, N.Y.; Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va.; and The Catholic University in Washington, D.C. |
