The Late Riser

Last month, though Vargas had been assured she could return to "World News" after her maternity leave, Westin handed the job to Gibson, who had no interest in being Vargas's co-anchor.

"I said to David all the way through that I don't believe in two anchors sitting at the desk next to each other," Gibson says. "It never made any sense to me. It never made any sense when Barbara Walters and Harry Reasoner did it or when Connie Chung and Dan Rather did it."

Gibson says he told Vargas he "felt badly" for what she had gone through. He says he had been scheduled to retire next year before getting the offer. "I was okay with the idea that 'Good Morning America' would be my last job at ABC. . . . There was never any foot-stomping," he says.

But to some staffers at the network, it looked as though Vargas was being sidelined by Gibson's stance, along with sagging ratings and an unplanned pregnancy.

"We didn't have the natural person to pair with Elizabeth," says Westin, who chose Gibson after Sawyer took herself out of the running for "World News." He calls Vargas "a consummate professional" but says the job changed on her because of Woodruff's injuries. "I don't rule out the possibility that Bob and Elizabeth will be co-anchors again," Westin says.

Vargas, who remains a "20/20" anchor, says that stepping aside under pressure was "an excruciatingly difficult decision. The problem of my maternity leave was and remains an insurmountable one. I had to leave the show for two months at a crucial time, and it would be unfair to the staff to leave them without a strong anchor. For now, this is the best decision for my family and for my colleagues."

Gibson, for the moment, is carrying a heavy load. He had just finished "GMA" last Tuesday and was posing for pictures with audience members when a producer said in his earpiece, "Get up to the desk right away. Bush is in Iraq."

"You mean the 2:30 news conference is a ruse?" Gibson said. The White House had announced, as a cover story, that the president would talk to reporters in the Rose Garden.

Gibson anchored two breaking-news specials without missing a beat. When Bush met reporters the next day, Gibson was struck by how energized the president looked, despite having had only a few hours' sleep, and how he seemed to be laying out a defense of the war that could become the Republican message in the fall elections. Gibson asked for a report on the politics of the secret trip to Baghdad, which became a "Closer Look" segment.

Colleagues say Gibson is deeply involved in every aspect of "World News," from writing scripts to picking the "Person of the Week." "He's a wonderful presence in the newsroom," says Executive Producer Jon Banner. "He's very aggressive in questioning pieces and making sure we cover this or that angle of the story."

But Gibson is the first to say that this is an unaccustomed role for him. For one thing, he has long been collaborating with Sawyer and the "GMA" staff. For another, he received a Quaker education at Washington's Sidwell Friends School -- he still goes to meetings occasionally -- and believes in the gradual deliberation that Quakers call "a sense of the meeting."

A native of Evanston, Ill., Gibson returned to Washington with a degree from Princeton University in 1966 and got a job as a $325-a-month radio producer. After enlisting in the Coast Guard to avoid the draft, Gibson landed a slot in a training program at Channel 7, now WJLA-TV. He edited down B-movies to fill the available slots on Sunday afternoon. He did cleanup duty at the "Claire and Coco" children's show, Coco being a French poodle. He kept score for a bowling show taped downstairs from the Van Ness Street offices. The station later sent him to another ABC affiliate it owned in Lynchburg, Va.