Dan Rather Says 'Howdy'

Call Dan Rather these days and you'll hear a folksy greeting from the unseated CBS anchor.

His voice mail message to callers begins with a Gary Cooperish "Howdy, this is Dan Rather" and ends "For now, adios."

"I always dreamed of having that voice mail," he told Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Gail Shister. "That's who and what I am, the way I grew up. Now I'm able to let that side out a little more than before."

Now moving into a spot as a reporter for "60 Minutes II" on Wednesdays - the newsmagazine where he used forged documents to attack President Bush's Air National Guard service and lost his anchor chair as a result - Rather will kick off his new assignment tomorrow night at 8:00 p.m. EST, in an interview with former G.E. boss Jack Welch and his new wife, Suzy.

"I'm very happy," he says of his new job. "So many people told me how difficult it was going to be, that I'd feel terrible for two weeks to two years. That has not happened in any way, shape or form. I moved from the 'hard-news' side of the street to what we called the 'carpet-making, basket-weaving' side of the street," he told Shister. "It turns out it's not basket-weaving at all. That was vastly overstated."

Rather downplayed his celebrity status, noting: "What has always made '60 Wednesday' and '60 Minutes' unique is that it's an ensemble of reporters. It's not driven by one anchor, but by the team. There's no one star."

Despite his optimism, "60 Minutes Wednesday" may be a short-time gig - the low-rated program is under the watchful eye of CBS boss Les Moonves, who hasn't been all that enthusiastic about keeping the show on the network schedule.

Said Rather, pledging to "plunge hard into '60 Wednesday,' April is our month of decision. We need to do well. We need to prove we're valuable to the schedule."

And if it doesn't work?

Well there's always that folksy signoff from his voice mail: "For now, adios."

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