Peter Baker

He physically shows up during these elections. He stands at the polls and watches people vote, election after election, to assure that the process is free and fair. The worm comes out of a joint, say, in your knee. It swells up and destroys the tissue.

He starts a program to eradicate guinea worm, the very painful and debilitating disease in the developing world that in the 1980s affected millions of people. And of course these kids can't go to school. The pain is too great and they need medical care. And he persuades volunteers in tens of thousands of villages to treat the water where the worms grow.

He starts a program to eradicate guinea worm, the very painful and debilitating disease in the developing world that in the 1980s affected millions of people. And of course these kids can't go to school. The pain is too great and they need medical care. And he persuades volunteers in tens of thousands of villages to treat the water where the worms grow.

And the Carter Center hands out millions of specialized drinking straws that filter out these worms. And basically, Guinea worm is almost gone now as a result of some of the things that he did. And now I call upon the Peace Prize Laureate of 2002, Jimmy Carter. All this finally, I think, leads to the Nobel Peace Prize that he didn't win while he was in office.

And the Carter Center hands out millions of specialized drinking straws that filter out these worms. And basically, Guinea worm is almost gone now as a result of some of the things that he did. And now I call upon the Peace Prize Laureate of 2002, Jimmy Carter. All this finally, I think, leads to the Nobel Peace Prize that he didn't win while he was in office.

And during his acceptance speech, Carter demonstrates his humility, a genuine humility.

And during his acceptance speech, Carter demonstrates his humility, a genuine humility.

He praises the tireless efforts of other humanitarian workers.

He praises the tireless efforts of other humanitarian workers.

And he urges others to devote themselves to the small, humble work that had defined the last several decades of his life.

And he urges others to devote themselves to the small, humble work that had defined the last several decades of his life.

And it's this service and modesty that he demonstrated that finally I think in some ways allows him to redeem himself for the failures of the time when he was in office. In fact, a lot of people say Carter was a better former president than he was president.

And it's this service and modesty that he demonstrated that finally I think in some ways allows him to redeem himself for the failures of the time when he was in office. In fact, a lot of people say Carter was a better former president than he was president.

At one point, one of his biographers, Kai Bird, said Carter's the only president ever to use the White House as a stepping stone to doing bigger things. And it earned Carter a lot of respect, even among Republicans who otherwise didn't particularly like him and Democrats who were kind of disappointed in him.

At one point, one of his biographers, Kai Bird, said Carter's the only president ever to use the White House as a stepping stone to doing bigger things. And it earned Carter a lot of respect, even among Republicans who otherwise didn't particularly like him and Democrats who were kind of disappointed in him.

But certainly I think the way most Americans remember Carter today is the man from Plains, Georgia, who's trying to use his platform of a former president to achieve things that, in fact, he couldn't do while in office. the modern presidency in some ways requires compromises he wasn't really willing to make and kind of performances that he wasn't maybe capable of.

But certainly I think the way most Americans remember Carter today is the man from Plains, Georgia, who's trying to use his platform of a former president to achieve things that, in fact, he couldn't do while in office. the modern presidency in some ways requires compromises he wasn't really willing to make and kind of performances that he wasn't maybe capable of.

And every successor, everybody who's come after him has thought about how not to be the kind of president Jimmy Carter was, even as they respect the kind of man that Jimmy Carter was. And that's why, for good or bad, it feels like we're never going to see someone like Jimmy Carter in the presidency again. Peter, thank you very much. Thank you. Appreciate it.

And every successor, everybody who's come after him has thought about how not to be the kind of president Jimmy Carter was, even as they respect the kind of man that Jimmy Carter was. And that's why, for good or bad, it feels like we're never going to see someone like Jimmy Carter in the presidency again. Peter, thank you very much. Thank you. Appreciate it.

I've never seen it. I've covered politics 38 years and studied elections for long before that. I cannot think of an election that was this close, this close to election day.