COLUMN: Largely unknown, exceptional public servant

David Broder
Cincinnati.com

Reporters learn that there are a relative handful of the public officials with whom we deal who can be counted on to expand our understanding of events. These are the men and women who have probed deeply into the forces shaping the country - or their part of it - and often anticipate the challenges to come.

During the eight years he was governor of Iowa, Tom Vilsack came onto my radar as one of those rare individuals, a man who planted useful thoughts every time I interviewed him.