The contract negotiation process helped to all but solidify his decision. He was going to leave the network. The years spent hosting the evening news, capturing the hearts, minds, and ears of a nation were coming to an abrupt end. Network attorneys did their best to demonstrate the company’s hard-line stance on the deal. Their goal was to all but incapacitate any hope of finding a middle ground on the contractual terms, and the pay. They were miles apart.