Dan Rather on news, himself and even Seattle

It's been almost a year since he left the anchor's chair. The bloggers who took aim at him have subsided, perhaps thinking their work done. Speculation about a successor has pushed other names into the spotlight.

But Dan Rather is still everywhere — perhaps more so, now that he no longer has to be in a studio for "The CBS Evening News."

"I love the news," he says, when asked what sustained him in the months after Memogate. "I've made mistakes and taken hits, some deserved and some not. But I love the news."

No doubt. Rather long ago earned the title "hardest-working man in news" and at age 74 shows no sign of cutting back. Our interview was delayed because he's been crisscrossing the country on a story about how health-care providers gouge bills to uninsured Americans. Before that, he was in Asia for a piece about North Korea that aired last Sunday on "60 Minutes," now his CBS home.

He's enthusiastic about both topics, fervently so. It's one of the paradoxes of Rather's career that his emotivity, considered a drawback in the old days, would be right at home in the brave new landscape of anchors who share their feelings.

On Tuesday, Rather will bring it all to Seattle. He's appearing at McCaw Hall as part of the "American Voices" series. The program, whose past speakers have included Gore Vidal and Ambassador Joseph Wilson, aims to foster public dialogue about issues of the day (see foolproof.org for ticket information).

Rather says that he's been told not to share too many of his topics, then forges ahead anyway: He has a theory about Seattle's place in the world.

Recent trips to China and to North Korea taught him, he says, that Seattle is regarded as a sort of subcapital of the United States, "which surprised me." He came away perceiving the historical center of gravity has shifted from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and specifically the Northern Pacific.

"Whether you are talking about the 21st-century economy or, God forbid, a new world war, it is in the Northern Pacific," he says. "A great deal of the pages of this century will be written on the axis of Seattle-Vancouver to Tokyo, Pyongyang and Beijing."

If this does not get the audience going, Rather has a good deal in his pocket about two long-standing interests: presidential politics and the press.

"I want to talk about 2008 and the open presidency, which means an unusually large number of candidates, and maybe I'll do some handicapping," he says.

He sounds delighted because of the potential variety looming ahead and when I observe that Hillary Clinton seems to have an edge, swiftly demurs. "She's the odds-on favorite now, but things change quickly in politics and she's a long way from being a cinch."

Rather is known for distrusting surveys no matter how scientific, a position reinforced by the 2000 exit-poll debacle that led news organizations to prematurely declare George Bush a winner.

In fact, Rather once emphatically stated, "Journalists should denounce government by public-opinion polls." Thinking of how journalists themselves rank low in public these days, I ask if we also should ignore these dire statistics.

Surprisingly, he says no.

"You never met anyone who was more skeptical of polls than me, but it isn't just the polls," he says. "Anyone who talks to people — not people in power and authority, but construction workers, bus drivers, waitresses — the consensus almost unanimously is, 'Hey, you guys aren't doing it.' "

He attributes the slide in public perception to several causes: the collapse of international reporting; the failure of today's press (Rather hates the word "media") to challenge authority; and television's drive to cater to young and/or wealthy viewers.

"TV news is filled with really smart, hard-working, idealistic young people who have the potential to be a heckuva lot better than I ever was." The problem, however, is, "It's no longer what happened today that's important, it's what can I find that's entertaining to the viewers that advertisers want?"

Rather also perceives the Internet as having caused tumult, largely because nobody has figured out how it fits into TV news.

The Internet, of course, played a big part in where Rather is today. Memogate became Memogate largely due to the aggressive efforts of bloggers, who preceded the mainstream media in challenging the authenticity of documents used in the "60 Minutes II" report on Bush's military career.

Thinking of sites such as ratherbiased.com and rathergate.com, I ask Rather if he's been tempted to start a blog along the lines of rathergetseven.com.

"I'm not interested in vengeance," he quickly says, then accepts the joke and elaborates: "I'm not sure I'm going to blog, but I'm still looking for new opportunities."

The mention of anything to do with Memogate still causes Rather to tense up. He's enormously charming in person — people are often surprised when I name him a first-choice lunch partner — but he's almost curt when asked if he and fired "60 Minutes" producer Mary Mapes are in touch.

"I have spoken with her," he replies. "Spoke over the holidays." It's the shortest answer in our 40-minute conversation.

It's also a prompting that Rather's volatility has range. Ten years ago, I interviewed him and wrote a story that suggested his image was that of a slugger who plants and swings.

Reminded of this in the context of the past year, he acknowledges the comparison.

"I was taught, like most young men in those days, to be a get-up fighter," he says. "You get knocked down, you get up. You get tagged, you shake it off and go on to the next thing."

Kay McFadden: kmcfadden@seattletimes.com