Debate Moderator Bret Baier '92 Talks Coffee with Boston Globe

August 6, 2015

LGL 5050 Bret Baier, chief political anchor at Fox News Channel and 1992 graduate of DePauw University, is featured in the Boston Globe's "My Morning Cup" column. The anchor of Special Report, who will be moderating the first Republican presidential debate tonight, offers his thoughts on the subject of coffee.

"So I’m a Starbucks guy," Baier tells the paper. "But I kind of just like the plain. I don’t go for the fancy coffee. I’m more of a drip guy -- usually get a Venti in the morning and put a little cinnamon in there. I’m a big fan of the Truvia instead of the Splenda. But it’s not the whole double squirt three shot, whatever the thing is. I’m just plain and boring."

A coffee drinker since high school, he adds, "It’s funny. Coffee doesn’t affect me tremendously anymore like it used to. I’ll have coffee through the day that day. Probably right before the debate I’ll stop Bret Baier Barack Obama Mar2010 drinking -- about six or so. I’d say three or four is my usual consumption."

Reading materials tend to accompany his cups of joe, Baier notes. "I get three papers at home: Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Washington Post. We get the New York Post and Washington Times at work. Then I’ve got an iPad. Fox sends me a write-up of all the big stories overnight. I drink the coffee, go through the paper, and the brain room output, which is a compilations of all the big stories. That’s the ritual."

The complete feature is available at the Globe's website.

An English (composition) and political science double major at DePauw, Baier captained the Tiger golf team and was among the first students to work in the then-new Center for Contemporary Media. While a DePauw student, he interned with Bernard Shaw at CNN and landed his first professional job at WJWJ-TV (PBS) in Beaufort, South Carolina. He also worked at WREX (NBC) in Rockford, Illinois, and WRAL (CBS) in Raleigh, LGL 4991 North Carolina, before joining Fox. Baier authored Special Heart: A Journey of Faith, Hope, Courage, and Love.

Bret Baier returned to DePauw for Old Gold Weekend on October 12, 2013. He spoke as part of the Timothy and Sharon Ubben Lecture Series and received the University's Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award. "DePauw is a big part of who I am, it's a big part of who I became, and I really like coming back here," he told the homecoming audience. (at right: Baier with Brent St. John '89, president of the DePauw Alumni Association)

The talk is summarized here; a video montage is embedded below.