CBS reporter went from Kauai to the halls of power

With midterm elections taking place Nov. 4, all 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and 33 of the 100 seats in the Senate will be up for grabs, and helping to make sense of it all will be Nancy Cordes, a former KHNL TV news reporter whose beat as a CBS News correspondent is Capitol Hill.

"I knew when I left Hawaii that my interest was in covering politics," said the Punahou alumna, who began her career at KHNL from 1995 to 1997. "I learned so much from the journalists I worked with and competed against in Hawaii, folks like Dan Cooke, Guy Hagi, Paul Drewes, Robert Kekaula and Teri Okita. I’ll always be grateful that KHNL took a chance on a rookie like me, one year out of college."

Cordes graduated Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania in 1995 and went on to earn a master’s degree in public policy at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Her first job in Washington, D.C., was due in part to her ties to the Belo media group that owned the Hawaii station at the time as well as the ABC affiliate station that hired her.

"I filled in for other reporters when they were sick or on vacation. It might have been for two days or six days, but for me it was a big market, and in 10 months I was offered a full-time job."

Being an early bird also paid off for Cordes, who said most of her jobs throughout her career involved morning shows and starting work while others are in deep-sleep mode.

She recalls getting a taste of the reporter’s life during one of her first jobs, helping radio deejay Charly Espina write the morning news at KPOI beginning at 3 a.m.

"It just goes with the territory," she said of the TV reporter’s role of being a virtual companion to morning commuters and others who want to start their day knowing what’s going on in the world.

And what’s going on can be wide-ranging. As a regular contributor to CBS, Cordes has participated in CBS "This Morning’s" lighthearted banter about Animal Planet’s annual Puppy Bowl and fish pedicures at spas. Before joining CBS she covered such major news stories as Hurricane Katrina; the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the Pentagon; the Washington-area sniper attacks; the 2000 presidential race; and the continuing war in Iraq.

She spent a couple of years reporting on consumer safety and transportation issues before being asked to return to Washington to cover Congress.

"I always wanted to cover politics, and Congress is the best beat in Washington because you have total access to the people you cover. Sometimes they want to talk to me, and sometimes they don’t, but considering they’re competing with 535 voices in Congress to get heard, they’re usually eager to talk to me."

Cordes seems unconcerned with the glitzier aspects of TV network news, saying she doesn’t give it much thought in light of the serious nature of her work as a watchdog for the public.

"I’ve always been interested in history and public policy," she said. "What Congress does or doesn’t do has a huge impact on all our lives. What members of Congress say can seem incomprehensible to outside viewers, who might not understand why there was a government shutdown or why Congress behaves the way it does. My job is to explain to the viewers and let them know why they should care."

Born Nancy Weiner in Los Angeles, Cordes grew up on Kauai, the daughter of two doctors. "My mother, a pediatrician, is a political junkie. We always had the news on, ’60 Minutes’ and shows like that when I was younger. That’s probably where I got my first interest in current events and politics."

In the ninth grade, she chose to leave Kauai to attend Punahou School, living on Oahu with the family of a friend, which gave her a taste of independence and self-sufficiency. The experience has made it easy for her to deal with any situation, including the most personal: a lengthy trans- Atlantic relationship. She met German-born Harald Cordes in 2003 at the Virginia wedding of mutual friends, and although he lived in Germany, the pair managed to keep their long-distance relationship going for three years before marrying. They both now call Washington home, along with their daughter, Lila, 5, and son, Noah, 4.

Considering her status as a full-blown policy wonk, Cordes said she’s content with reporting the news rather than entering the political fray and becoming a candidate.

"Capitol Hill can be an acrimonious place, and it can really get you down because people can’t work together on things that are seemingly simple. I’m surrounded by people who see things 100 percent differently and have a sense of conviction dealing with someone from the opposite side with equal conviction.

"Coming from Hawaii has given me a laid-back attitude that helps you keep things in perspective. I take policy seriously and take politics and nastiness less seriously," she said.

"I’m happy on this side. That’s where my skills and interests are, and it’s the way I think I can make the biggest difference."