02.12.01

By Nicole Johnson

It is 11:30 a.m. at The Virginian-Pilot’s bureau office at the Capitol.

Three busy reporters and one serene editor are cranking out stories and discussing hot topics. They resemble Santa and his elves, except in this office Santa is a bureau chief named Warren Fiske, and the elves are clever reporters hunting down the news. Like gifts on Christmas morning, these elves work hard to get the news to readers before they awake. I sit in a corner of the Old City Hall office waiting for Christina Nuckols, whom I’m told is more monster than elf.

"She (Christina) covers the house – she’s in hell," a redheaded woman in the office tells me.

11:45 – I spot a plaque on the wall that reads, "After this is over, I will have a nervous breakdown. I deserve it."

After I read the sign, a loud voice gets my attention. "Midwives was killed," says a swift-moving petite woman. The woman is Christina, and she is referring to a bill concerning midwives. She drops names, introduces herself to me, nooks a bowl of soup and makes phone calls all in one fell swoop. When I realize this is whom I will follow for the next few hours, I begin to regret not wearing my sneakers.

Noon – After receiving her story assignment, Christina leans over to me and whispers, "My life."

Christina’s "life" consist of constant committee meetings and legislative issues. Today’s story: A controversial ad in the Richmond Times-Dispatch telling Gov. Jim Gilmore to keep his promise of giving 10 percent from the tobacco settlement to teen smoking prevention is what Christina will follow today.

She says she will need to hunt down responses from the governor’s office, the American Lung Association and several delegates. A gavel is heard from the radio in the office signifying the start of today’s House session. So, Christina’s story will have to wait, and we’re off to the House chamber.

12:15 – I sit in the back of the House of Delegates bumping shoulders with seasoned reporters, gleaming at my new in-crowd status.

"I have to talk to that guy," she says and points to a delegate on the floor.

As she carries on a conversation with a fellow reporter, she never takes her eye off the targeted legislator.

"This is the best time to talk to delegates; it’s better than after committee meetings because they have to attend the House meetings," she says.

In true shadowing mode, I watch as she talks to about five different delegates. I glance at her scribbled notepad and wonder what language she is writing in.

12:30 – Back to the ad story … we are headed to the governor’s office to get a response.

The governor’s people know Christina on a first-name basis. It is her fourth session at the Capitol, three of which she reported for The Roanoke Times. Gilmore’s assistant teases her about her recent job switch to The Pilot, and at that moment they seem more like old friends than reporter and politician.

"It’s all in whom you know down here," she says as we head back to the House chamber.

12:45 – Finally a break, or so I thought.

On the bench outside the House chamber, Christina tries to call the American Lung Association for information on teen smoking. Before I can catch my breath, Christina tells me her cell phone doesn’t work. So, it’s back to the office to use a more reliable phone.

12:55 – I accidentally follow Christina into the bathroom, and I think this shadowing thing may be going too far.

The area outside between the Capitol building and the bureau office is about 100 steps free of legislators, reporters and bills. It is here where Christina seems more person than reporter robot. She tells me that her days start at 7 a.m. and don’t end until 7 p.m. She reveals to me that I should get a job at a paper that offers overtime pay, because some don’t.

"Working 13 hours for the price of eight hours is horrible," she says.

I agree, and before I can ask more questions we are at the bureau office.

1:30 p.m. – Christina makes her calls and frantically searches for the director for the Department of Tobacco’s number – I hide.

She makes several different calls and we head back to the House chamber. Today’s session is not controversial. Most of the delegates are walking around the floor, and Christina takes advantage of this. I manage to get the attention of one delegate sponsoring a bill I am interested in. Christina has talked to several by the time I finish with my one.

3 p.m. – We sprint to the Appropriations Committee meeting hobnobbing all the way.

On the way to the committee meeting, Christina runs into more than seven people she knows. She gives me tidbits of information on everyone that we encounter. Other members of the press are no exception. She tells me a few lazy reporters like to go around asking other reporters questions. I begin to think there is a secret society operating at the Capitol.

3:30p.m. – Delegate Thomas W. Moss, D-Norfolk, serenades Christina and me with poetry, and I wonder why I’ve never gotten this treatment when covering committee meetings without her.

In true committee tradition, the meeting starts an hour late. And just as Christina starts to tell me about some hot budget topics, I realize it is time for me to go to class. I bid my good-byes and thank her for letting me tag along.

4:01 p.m. – On my way back …

I step on the elevator and a bubbly House page asks me what floor I am going to. I answer, "All the way to the first floor." … first stage … first steps … in other words back to the rookies.