As the Harvard Political Review's (HPR) 30th anniversary issue suggests that the American people are "burned out" on politics, its anniversary conference on political journalism this weekend discussed ways to rekindle the blaze.

The two-day conference kicked off with a Friday night dinner and keynote address delivered by Richard L. Berke, national political correspondent for The New York Times.

Berke, who was a fellow at the IOP in the fall of 1997 and recently joined its senior advisory committee, regaled conference-goers with tales of reporting from the White House.

When The Times was scheduled to run Berke's story saying President Clinton thought Gore's campaign needed improvement--attributed to anonymous sources--Berke called the White House to let them know about the piece in advance. He told the official he spoke with that if the President was concerned about the story, he should call The Times.

"I was kind of just kidding," Berke said.

But before the article went to print, Berke picked up the phone at his desk and found the President on the other end of the line.

In the ensuing conversation, President Clinton confirmed much of Berke's information--and told the reporter that he felt Gore had already begun to improve his campaign strategy.

Berke offered some political analysis of his own in his speech, saying he was surprised by developments in the 2000 presidential race. If he had been asked a year ago, Berke said, he would have guessed that Vice President Al Gore '69 would have scared off most of his Democratic challengers, and the GOP side of the race would be wide open.