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As for the identity of the Hack, that's harder to pinpoint. Peggy doesn't give us as many clues. All she really tells us is that he "didn't write but only kibitzed." And it is also revealed that the Hack never wrote a book.

Well, it's true that Rohrabacher never wrote a book. However, he did do a lot of writing. Maybe not during the same years as Peggy, but he DID do a lot of work. So, I don't think it's a done deal on him being the Hack. But he could be.

On the other hand, Ken Khachigian was also a speechwriter during Peggy's tenure there, and he never wrote a book, and it appears that he wasn't as busy as the others. This is, of course, all guesswork. There were a lot of speechwriters and most of them didn't write books, and most of them worked sporadically. Peggy herself was a sporadic writer during those years -- given big assignments that took more time than the standard "Rose Garden Rubbish." So who can say who the Hack really is.

However, I can say definitively that it was not Pat Buchanan. He was Elliott's boss. So that puts that one to rest.

I had originally proposed Ken Khachigian as the Hack but the Rohrabacher lobby became strong for awhile. I offered the following about Ken Khachigian earlier concerning my meager knowledge and impression of him.

"Just between you and me, I would take a guess at Ken Khachigian as the Hack, he is a former Nixon and Reagan speechwriter who is essentially a political consultant in California. From what I have seen of him, he appears inarticulate [see his October 03 interview with Brit Hume on the Arnold sex disclosures by the LA Times--google his name and it will come up fairly quickly] and greasy. But I really don't know. I only say this as names that could be ruled out or in with further info. "