Bob's perf was a real Eye opener

CBS' temp anchor resuming 'Face the Nation' post

By MICHAEL LEARMONTH

He came as a temp, stayed longer than anyone expected and showed you don't need nice legs to get good ratings.

Bob Schieffer hands off the CBS' "Evening News" to Katie Couric this week, capping a 16-month joyride in the one job he never expected to land.

"When Dan Rather got the job in 1980, I said to myself that's going to be Dan's job for a long time. And we were so close in age that I told myself not to think about it," Schieffer remembers. "So when Les Moonves called, I was stunned. I will never forget it."

This week, Schieffer resumes his life as chief Washington correspondent and host of "Face the Nation." He'll also begin writing commentary for the "Evening News." And in a symbolic gesture, the Eye is giving him the office of CBS' last great practitioner of the craft: Eric Sevareid.

As he cedes the anchor chair he leaves the "Evening News" with some unexpected momentum. "The great thing is, there were no expectations for me," he says. "I was just the nice old guy to keep the store open."

The folksy charm worked: The newscast is now within a few hundred thousand viewers of second-place ABC.

CBS News and Sports prexy Sean McManus has asked Schieffer to delay retirement at least through the 2008 elections, and preferably through 2010. Schieffer says it sounds good, but he won't commit until he wakes up on Feb. 25, his birthday.

"I want to see how I feel when I'm 70."