One of the sad facts of politics is that more often than you think, politicians are threatened with violence and even death. One of those threats occurred in 1991 when I was working for Senator Bob Kerrey and he was running for president.

The story began on a Friday afternoon just after CBS News publicly announced Kerrey would be their Sunday morning guest live from their DC studios. Shortly after, Kerrey’s office received a call from a man who said he would kill Kerrey following the Sunday appearance.

The protocol was to turn the matter over to Capitol Hill police. We did and they indicated we should go ahead with the interview as they would have steeped up security at the site – something with which Kerrey fully agreed.

As Kerrey’s press secretary, I was staffing Kerrey that Sunday morning.

Following the interview, as Bob and I were walking out of CBS to a bank of microphones for a post appearance interview, I began falling behind Kerrey as we walked down the hall. Kerrey noticed this, turned and asked what I was doing. I replied, “You’ve got a bullseye on your back man, I don’t want to be anywhere near you.”

Typically, Bob laughed.

When we got outside, Kerrey went to the bank of microphones, and I went 15 feet to Kerrey’s left.

As Bob began taking questions, I noticed a car door open about a half block away. A man got out and began to make a beeline toward Kerrey.

Literally within seconds, the man was surrounded by what seemed like an army of plain-clothed Capitol Hill police and within seconds, they were gone. I honestly didn’t see where these guys came from or where they went with the would-be assassin.

Moreover, I don’t believe a reporter or anyone else witnessed the event – they were all facing Kerrey.

I simply stood there stunned that these men and women had just risked their lives and did so with such calm and efficiency. Profiles in courage happen every day. If I had blinked, I might have missed this one.