Former White House correspondent, Sam Donaldson, gave the lecture "Road to the White House." (Ernie Chacon/Borderzine.com)

Sam Donaldson says the presidential election is too close to call

EL PASO – Veteran ABC news reporter Sam Donaldson has covered every national political election since 1964 but he has never seen one as close and as difficult to call as the upcoming contest next week between President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney. “I can’t call this election.  Many times at this point, two weeks before a presidential election you kind of know who is going to win. I don’t know this time,” Donaldson told students at the University of Texas at El Paso October 23. “It’s been an interesting year,” the former White House correspondent said. He told students that each candidate has flaws, referring to Obama as an “empty suit” during the first debate for which the President was criticized for not speaking out as forcefully on the issues as Romney did.

Veteran White House correspondent, Sam Donaldson at the University of Texas at El Paso. (Robert Brown/Borderzine.com)

Sam Donaldson – From El Paso to covering the White House and back to his alma mater

EL PASO — The legendary, the tenacious, the former White House correspondent Sam Donaldson has earned many titles along his successful trek in journalism, but it all began in this southwestern border city. Donaldson, 78, is a veteran reporter for ABC news who does not hesitate at the opportunity to visit his former University of Texas at El Paso to talk about his passion for journalism and politics. Donaldson is best known for serving three times as ABC’s White House Correspondent covering presidents Carter, Reagan and Clinton. He covered the war in Vietnam, the Watergate trials and was the first anchor of ABC’s Sunday Evening News. “I enjoy talking to people who are interested in the news business and interested in the things that I have done from the stand point of learning about those,” Donaldson told Borderzine before taking the stage of UTEP’s Centennial Lecture Series on March 26.

Sam Donaldson — The new media wields a double-edged sword

EL PASO, Texas — Innovations in technology —more specifically the Internet— have changed every aspect of media, transforming journalism into a swift double-edged digital sword, according to veteran ABC News reporter Sam Donaldson. Donaldson told students at his Alma Mater, the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) Tuesday that, “Everyone today thinks they are a journalist. Everyone shoots off their mouths on the Internet. To some extent this is a problem. I would prefer to listen to someone who is presenting stuff that is factual.”

The borderland native attended Texas Western College, now UTEP, and began his TV career in 1977 as a correspondent for ABC News.