Bret Baier, who will be moderating his fifth debate of this primary cycle tonight, is making a return to a state he once called home. Baier tells The Sun News in Myrtle Beach about his time as an intern in Beaufort, SC. “I was a one-man reporter, photographer and editor. I remember covering sea turtle nesting. It was my first on-air position, so I have an affinity for coastal South Carolina. I did get to cover some things with the military at Parris Island, and interview Carroll Campbell, who was then governor — that was a big deal.”
Baier returned to the Carolinas in the 1990s as a reporter at WRAL in Raleigh. He tells the News & Observer he “went from general assignment to covering state politics.
[C]overing the state Capitol in Raleigh was also a great eye-opening thing for a reporter, and the different characters in state government enabled me to fine-tune the ability to talk to politicians and try to start to see through some of the stuff.”At WRAL, Baier followed Jim Axelrod. The two would later work together as White House correspondents. Baier at FNC and Axelrod at CBS.