"Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy."

Twenty years ago, I took my high school television new crew downtown to the Vice Presidential debate between Dan Quayle and Lloyd Bentson. We were set up in the lower level of the Civic Auditorium in the spin room with all big shots. This was the real deal. Beside us were the CSPAN guys. Large monitors gave us a view of what was happening above us. The crowd was so out of control that Judy Woodruff stopped to admonish them more than once before Bentson let fly his zinger of the century.

According to the Omaha World Herald, David Karnes, an Omaha lawyer, sat beside Marilyn Quayle and remembers not wanting to look at her when Bentson delivered his body blow that is remembered by a little news crew and their teacher. Two of the Karnes girls were in my classes.

We heard the gasp from the auditorium. The spinners spun out of control. In spite of it all, the zinger didn't cinch the election. I was proud of my students, who had captured an important event for our city-wide broadcast. We were part of a little bit of history that unfolded around us.