Ken Rudin

Opinion columnist

In the summer of 1991, I was one of the victims of budget and staff cuts at ABC News. It happened on a late Friday afternoon. On Monday morning, I received a call from my friend, Cokie Roberts, whom I had known for several years. "NPR has never had a political editor," she told me. "You would be the perfect person for it."

Long story short, I got the job, and for much of the next two decades I was the political editor for NPR. And throughout that time I stayed in touch with Cokie. We often had lunch. We often talked about the political news of the day. Invariably, when I would talk about her NPR commentary, I would say to her, "Cokie, give me a break. You know EVERYTHING. And you certainly know much more than you're saying." She would smile and say only, "I'm trying!"

I loved her laugh. We often talked about her dad, the late Hale Boggs, and how she never found peace because his body, lost in a plane crash, had never been recovered. "I still imagine him walking into my kitchen and saying he's ok," she said to me. I can't begin to tell you how good she was to me for so many years.

I can't begin to tell you how devastated I was when I learned of her passing today, at the far too young age of 75. My love to Steve and Rebecca and the rest of their family.

I loved you Cokie, and my heart is broken.

Ken Rudin, former political editor at National Public Radio, is the host of Ken Rudin's Political Junkie radio program and a member of USA TODAY's Board of Contributors. Follow him on Twitter: @kenrudin.