Robert Traynham is Washington bureau chief at the Comcast Network and host of “Roll Call With Robert Traynham.” A former White House intern, Traynham also served as communications director for former Republican Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania. In addition to politics, Traynham enjoys cooking, mountain biking and cars.
What’s a nice guy like you doing on television?
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My professional career has never been planned out. The only thing I planned in my life was to be an orthopedic surgeon — and look where that led me! Seriously, I worked in the U.S. Senate for 10 years and throughout my career on the Hill, my boss — the senator — encouraged me to do TV from time to time as he thought I was pretty good at it. After he lost re-election, I thought to myself — hey, why don’t I try this TV thing full time?
You were a White House intern. What’s the most scandalous thing that happened to you there?
Once when the president was not in the Oval Office, a Secret Service agent I befriended let me enter the Oval Office and sit at the president’s desk. That means I was the first African-American to occupy the Oval Office — for about two minutes!
Why do you think people are so cynical about politics?
They turn on the television and they see politicians always disagreeing with each other. They then tune in to their favorite network and see pundits shouting at each other. That’s not a good recipe for civility, unfortunately.
What’s a good trick for getting politicians off their talking points?
Know their talking points better than them and take the other side of the issue and argue it forcefully. Then charm them with one or two questions on topics that are easy for them.
Aston Martin or AC Cobra?
Tough choice. I would have to go with the Aston Martin.