JOHN LINDER: “I met Paul Coverdell in 1972. He was one of 22 or 23 members of the State Senate who were Republicans, out of 56…”

“I met Paul Coverdell in 1972. He was one of 22 or 23 members of the State Senate who were Republicans, out of 56 members, and 3 years later I was one of 19 members, I believe it was, out of 180 members in the Georgia House who were Republicans. And Paul never stopped a moment from trying to build a party, to be competitive, not because he thought Republicans were better than Democrats, but he thought more Republicans would make the Democrats better. Paul had an unbelievable appetite for work, and those who worked with him understand that he had one failing in that appetite, and that was that he always wanted to have meetings. Whatever he came up with, he called a meeting. I recall helping him in 1977 in the race the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Lewis) referred to, a special election. I said, Paul, how can I help you? He said, we are having a meeting at 5:30. I showed up at his office and we talked strategy for an hour; and then I said, I have to get going and distribute some of this literature. And he said, well, we are going to have another meeting tomorrow at 5:30. I said, No, you, are going to have a meeting at 5:30; I am going to be out doing work. He did that because he did not want to go off on his own on any issue and he wanted to talk things through.”