title: Inside Today: The Battle for the Morning
author:  Judy Kessler 
description: "The best soap opera on air" is what Kessler calls the NBC morning program she worked for as a talent booker from 1980 to 1984. The goings-on Kessler reports in this book, however (most notably, Bryant Gumbel's leaked memo), have been amply documented in the press, and no doubt the tidbits in her book (Gumbel's nickname for Jane Pauley, which starts with c and rhymes with punt ) will be excerpted there as well. Kessler also left To day before its highest drama--"sweet" Jane Pauley ousted to make way for "homewrecker" Deborah Norville. This section is thus based on hearsay and interviews after the fact. Still, anyone interested in a career in TV news--particularly as a talent booker--should read this book to know the frantic, hilarious, and sometimes unethical methods used to scoop competitors. With its throwaway celebrity gossip, this book will have quick appeal for most readers and has a place in larger communications collections. --Judy Quinn, formerly with "Library Journal"<br />Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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  [Contents](A1416509402_toc.htm)
  
  # **Chapter Forty-Six**
  
  "Oh, fuck," Kacey muttered as she approached the pass.
  
  Helicopters and firing mortars do _not_ mix. They have to occupy the same
  airspace and have a horrible tendency to occupy the same three dimensional
  point at the same time.
  
  There was room to the side for her to pass, but she assumed they were firing
  in support of the Keldara trapped on the ridgeline. If so she was going to be
  following the gun-target line the whole way. That was really gonna suck big
  donkey dicks.
  
  However, as she crabbed by she could tell they were pointed away from the
  Keldara position. What in the fuck were they firing at?
  
  The answer became clear as she crossed the pass. The mortars were pounding the
  shit out of the Chechens blocking the pass. And, what's more, a group of
  Keldara women were just shaking out in what was clearly an assault line.
  
  "Uh, hey, Father...uh... Ferrari?" Kacey said, ke