A Son's Own Orbit

The youngest of five siblings, he grew up while Mario Cuomo was winning three terms as governor, moving to the Albany mansion at the age of 13. Political life, the young man learned, can be rough, and the media scrutiny was "a real turnoff." The Yale graduate went on to Albany Law School and became a Wall Street lawyer instead.

In the mid-1990s, the elder Cuomo says, his son told him: "You know, Pop, my job is making rich people richer." When the former governor suggested politics, he says, Chris replied: " 'You and Andrew screwed that one up enough.' That was his cute way of saying that the area was occupied by us."

What about television? Mario Cuomo recalls his son saying he was "afraid of the camera," but Chris was soon bouncing around the cable networks as a part-time political analyst, even co-hosting Geraldo Rivera's daytime show on occasion.

He was starting to garner attention, making People's 50 Most Beautiful People list and becoming friendly with John F. Kennedy Jr. "I could watch him as the ultimate example of what is expected of the child of a political figure," Chris Cuomo says. "He provided a lesson in how not to let who you are go to your head."

Cuomo's dad put him in touch with Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes, a former adversary in the political wars, who hired him in 1998.

With a nationally known Democrat as a father, the younger Cuomo says, "people didn't want to give me jobs because they didn't think I'd be able to be accepted as a regular reporter. For Roger Ailes to put a Cuomo on Fox News Channel, that didn't scream 'immediate benefit.' " Ailes, says Cuomo, "taught me everything."

ABC hired him as a correspondent the following year. "He's very intelligent, he's a curious person and he has a strong presence on the screen," says ABC News President David Westin.

Within four years, Cuomo was a co-host of "Primetime," and in 2006 he was tapped for early-morning duty at "GMA," prompting speculation that he might eventually succeed Sawyer as a co-host.

Cuomo faced several months of adjustments, from reading off the teleprompter -- he's still not a natural -- to nimbly dancing from one segment to the next. "One minute you're crying about someone losing their puppy, and the next you're talking to an actor about his role," he says.

But Cuomo made his presence felt. "For everyone it was initially like having a Great Dane in the studio," Sawyer says. "He has boundless energy. He comes in my dressing room with three suggestions for my interviews."

That same enthusiasm is on display when Cuomo is pressing Hillary Clinton last week about whether she would "bomb Iran" if it attacked Israel -- Clinton made news by saying U.S. forces could "totally obliterate them" -- or asking Keira Knightley about her latest "steamy love scene." And as an amateur chef, he takes such segments as Emeril Lagasse's Mac and Cheese Challenge quite seriously.

"He called me out on the air," Sawyer says of their competition. "I won for best meat loaf. He's never gotten over it."