Cooper speaks of experience

Arkansas Traveler (subscription) - Fayetteville, AR, USA - He has traveled to Iraq and Afghanistan since the beginning of the wars and has broadcast from New Orleans every few weeks since his month-long report from the areas affected by Hurricane Katrina.

However, Anderson Cooper doesn't get tired of doing the same story, even months after reporting it.

"I don't get bored," Cooper said. "There is something always different, there is always new things happening with stories."

For the last three months, he has been following the U.S. elections nonstop, but even this doesn't grow tiring, he said.

"It's fascinating. The fact that all people who are illegibly experts have no idea what is going to happen - it's great meeting with them every night, because, you know, no matter what they say, they really have no idea what they are talking about," Cooper said.

The Distinguished Lecture Committee invited the CNN anchor to come to the UA. Cooper spent Friday on campus speaking with students and attending events.

More than 2,000 people attended his lecture at Barnhill Arena Friday evening, a UA police officer said.

"It's awesome to hear him make fun of himself. He puts himself in this category of anchors, and then makes fun of the anchors," said Amar Mekic, a sophomore finance major.

Throughout the lecture, Cooper made comments about anchors on cable news and compared them to characters such as Kent Brockman, the animated anchor on "The Simpsons," or Guy Smiley from "Sesame Street."

"I'm just a blow-dried anchor," Cooper said in response to a question at the lecture.