When Roger Runningen was a student at Winona State in the early 70s, he wrote for the Winonan and was the student paper's editor his senior year. He often skipped classes because there was a campus story that had to be covered and written. Now, three decades later, as he jets around the globe on Air Force One or takes notes in an Oval Office press briefing, Roger fondly recalls his days at Winona State and credits WSU for providing the educational foundation that allowed him the opportunity to succeed at the highest level of journalism.

"I took three classes in journalism from Adolph Bremer,'' Roger said. "He was the editor-in-chief for the local Winona Daily News and also taught at Winona State. I would have taken more, but they only offered three journalism classes at the time.'' Roger said he and members of the debate team and Winonan staff enjoyed "skull sessions'' with Dr. Dan Willson, Winona State's Dean of Arts and Sciences.

"We got together many Friday nights at his home to talk about what was happening at the college and to solve the world's problems,'' Roger remembered. "We also worked with him to get the Mass Communication offerings expanded. I'm pleased that the WSU Mass Comm Department has a great reputation and that it is one of the top five majors on campus.'' Roger stays in touch with Willson, who is now retired and lives in Saint Paul, Kansas. "He was the campus wise man, guidance counselor, a know-it-all, the go-to person. His door was always open for students.''

While a junior at Winona State, Roger interned in the Washington, D.C., office of Congressman Al Quie from Minnesota. "That was 16 credits of first-rate political science education,'' Roger said. One of his most memorable times at Winona State came during a Vietnam War protest. "A group of students marched on City Hall and there was some heated debate,'' Roger remembered. "I knew something big was happening. I blew off all my classes and followed the protestors.

"As editor of the Winonan, I decided to do an overnight 'extra.' I coordinated the writers and photographers, and got all the stories and pictures together. The staff worked on it almost all night,'' Roger said. "When the issue was ready in the early morning, I took it to our printer in Wabasha, and had it back on campus for distribution by 10 a.m.'' After he graduated in 1972, Roger, who grew up in Houston, Minn., got his first job in journalism as the one and only reporter for the Wabasha County Herald.

"I did it all,'' he recalled. "Cops, school board, city council, feature stories, the prize hogs at the county fair, sports … and I took pictures, all for $120 a week.'' In 1974, Congressman Quie called Roger to ask if he'd come to Washington to serve as his press secretary.

"My bosses at the paper said I'd be a damn fool to pass up the opportunity,'' Roger said. He worked for the Congressman for five years, and had a chance to return to Minnesota in 1979 when Quie became Governor. Instead, Roger wanted to return to journalism and took a position as the Washington correspondent for the Small Newspaper Group (SNG), a company that owned and operated newspapers in California, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Minnesota, including the Rochester Post Bulletin.

For more than a decade, Roger covered Capitol Hill and elected officials from the states where SNG owned papers. Roger remembered covering Edward Madigan, a Congressman from Illinois who later was appointed U.S. Secretary of Agriculture by President George H.W. Bush. In 1991, Madigan called Roger and asked him to become press secretary for the Secretary of Agriculture. "Again, I talked to my editors,'' Roger said. "Again, I was told I'd be a damn fool if I didn't take the opportunity.'' Roger was chief spokesman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture from 1991-93 until the change of administration brought a new Secretary when Bill Clinton became president. "The timing was right,'' Roger said. "I wanted to return to journalism and I wanted more time to spend with my kids.'' Roger and his wife, Marsha, have two sons, Mark and Jeff.

"After six months of playing Mr. Mom, a friend, who was president of the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., told me about a new wire service that was looking for someone who knew agriculture and commerce,'' Roger said. Since he had grown up on a Minnesota farm and had extensive experience in Washington, both in media and in government, especially dealing with agriculture, economics, commodities and the markets, Roger was a perfect fit. He's been with Bloomberg News since 1994, and has seen the company develop into one of the major wire services in the world.

In 2003, the Bloomberg newsroom needed an additional person to cover the White House, in addition to the four already doing so. They wanted a seasoned D.C. media veteran, and Roger was interested in a new challenge. "I started to cover the White House on Monday, March 17, 2003,'' Roger said. "Two days later, the U.S. is at war in Iraq. Nothing like, well, just plunging in,'' he said.

Since then, it has been pretty much non-stop running for Roger. In late May and early June of 2003, he was a member of the White House Press Corps on Air Force One when the President visited Poland, Russia, France, Egypt, Jordan and Qatar. The trip included the so-called Red Sea Summit, and the signing of a hoped-for "roadmap for peace'' in the Middle East. President Bush helped broker a peace pact with King Abdullah of Jordan, King Hamad of Bahrain, Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, and Prince Abdullah Aziz of Saudi Arabia.

"The agreement has faced many setbacks since, but at the time people thought perhaps there was a framework for peace. Bush was euphoric, and once the presidential party left Jordanian airspace, President Bush invited the Press Corps to his cabin on Air Force One and held a question and answer session,'' Roger said. "The president was beaming with a sense of good feelings that real progress had been made toward peace in the Middle East. "When the questions were done, the president gave us a tour of the 'Flying Oval Office' and his quarters on Air Force One, complete with the presidential seal on the bed and towels.''

Air Force One was headed to Qatar, for a Bush speech to U.S. troops outside Doha the next day. "The day we were leaving to return home it was 115 degrees on the tarmac in Qatar,'' Roger recalled. "An hour into the flight we were told to look outside the plane. What reporters didn't know was that Air Force One had just entered Iraqi air space. We were being escorted by four F18 jet fighters. We flew directly over Baghdad at 28,000 feet. It was a clear day and the pilot tipped the wing in a long half-circle so we could see the city and the Tigris River.'

' Roger's journalism career started by writing and reporting in WSU's student newspaper for hundreds of readers at a time. Now, Roger Runningen has boxes full of White House press credentials in dozens of foreign languages and his writing appears regularly on Bloomberg.com and in news publications around the world for millions of readers.

Last Modified: Wednesday, December 08, 2004 14:00 by