RUSH ON A LIMB FOR YEARS, CONTROVERSY HAS DEFINED
THE RADIO GIANT'S CAREER

With Racial Remarks And Drug Claims, Now More Than Ever

Rush Limbaugh became America's most popular radio show host, and
perhaps the media's most polarizing personality, by thriving on
controversy, usually involving other people. Now he's at the center of
one himself.

And one that seems to be picking up speed. Shortly after midnight
Thursday, Limbaugh resigned from ESPN after the most controversial
three-week stint in the history of sports TV -- just hours after
presidential candidates began calling for his dismissal.

By dawn, that news was twinned with entirely different reports: The
National Enquirer, in allegations that almost simultaneously seeped
into the mainstream media, said Limbaugh had since 1998 illegally
bought thousands of doses of prescription drugs.

Thursday, Florida law enforcement sources confirmed to USA TODAY that
Limbaugh is being investigated in Palm Beach as part of a probe into
the illegal sale of prescription painkillers.

Though the alleged drug dealers are the primary target, that does not
preclude possible charges being filed against the buyers, the sources
said.

A spokesman for the Palm Beach County state attorney's office would
not speak about the investigation: ''This office can't confirm or deny
any case we may have under review,'' spokesman Mike Edmonson said.

WPTV, a TV station in West Palm Beach, Fla., reported that Limbaugh
has hired famed Miami defense attorney Roy Black. Black's high-profile
clients have included sportscaster Marv Albert, who pleaded guilty in
1997 to misdemeanor assault in a sex scandal, and William Kennedy
Smith, who was acquitted of raping a woman at the Kennedy family's
compound in 1991.

Black declined to confirm the report for USA TODAY.

Jack Swanson, program director of KGO Radio in San Francisco, which
does not carry Limbaugh's program, says Limbaugh is at a crossroads:
''If Limbaugh had an addiction, beat it and came clean with his
listeners, America would embrace him. But if it ended up to be
recreational drug use, all bets are off.''

Limbaugh was keeping uncharacteristically mum Thursday. Addressing the
National Association of Broadcasters in Philadelphia, he again called
his comments on ESPN about Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan
McNabb ''just an opinion.'' Besides, he added, he didn't ''mean to
hurt anybody'' when he said that McNabb was overrated by agenda-driven
media eager to ensure that black quarterbacks succeed.

Limbaugh offered his resignation, he said, out of concern for ''the
great people'' at ESPN who didn't want to deal ''with this kind of
reaction.''

He didn't address the reports of drug use. Instead he issued a
statement on his Web site and through Premiere Radio Networks, the
syndicator that gave him the richest deal in radio history, an
eight-year, $285 million contract through 2009. In the statement,
Limbaugh was unequivocal: ''I am unaware of any investigation by any
authorities involving me. No governmental representative had contacted
me directly or indirectly. If my assistance is required in the future,
I will, of course, cooperate fully.''

Limbaugh must be hoping, says Robert Thompson, director of Syracuse
University's Center for the Study of Popular Television, that there's
no rush to judgment in the court of public opinion. Limbaugh's core
constituency -- the 20 million weekly listeners on more than 600
stations -- is likely to overlook the ESPN hubbub, Thompson says. ''He
might even make it into martyrdom -- more proof that he's being
silenced by the mainstream media.''

But that audience, Thompson suggests, won't accept drug use. ''And
Limbaugh's whole 'no comment' thing is just what he complains about
with other people.''

Tried out for 'MNF' in 2000

A week ago, Limbaugh seemed poised to expand his media reach into an
entirely new realm: He was the hottest rookie in TV sports and openly
ambitious to ascend to much grander sportscasting roles.

By Thursday, his name was being linked by the Enquirer with
prescription drugs OxyContin, Lorcet and hydrocodone. But Michael
Harrison, editor of the radio industry trade bible Talkers, suggests
Limbaugh can break his fall: ''It's going to take a lot more than some
accusations or perhaps a substance problem to knock this guy down from
his lofty perch.''

Limbaugh launched his national show in 1988. Even early on, he
generated mixed passions. Some restaurants set aside ''Rush rooms''
where diners could listen to his show as they ate. But AIDS activists
were inflamed by his recurring ''AIDS Update'' -- a radio bit using
I'll Never Love This Way Again as its theme song.

By 2000 Limbaugh was in the running for football's biggest TV stage --
an analyst spot on ABC's Monday Night Football. But he lost out to
comedian Dennis Miller, who lasted two seasons and was criticized by
die-hard fans as an interloper. Limbaugh hadn't lost his sports
ambitions. In August, Limbaugh told USA TODAY that he ''absolutely''
wanted to become a game announcer, and if he'd been hired over Miller,
''I'd still be in the booth.''

Joining ESPN's NFL studio show, on which he was supposed to just pipe
up to challenge ex-NFL stars, was his shot at expanding his reach far
beyond his daily show and subjects other than the Clintons and
''femi-nazis.''

All about creating a buzz

Chris Berry, president of WMAL radio in Washington, D.C., on which
Limbaugh is the top-rated host, suggests that if Limbaugh had made his
McNabb comments ''on his radio show, I suspect no one would have
noticed. Part of his appeal is to push people's buttons.''

Says Syracuse's Thompson, ''These shock jocks, if you will, are hired
to do things that almost get them fired.''

Some would argue TV sports programmers have started looking for that,
too. With ESPN, Limbaugh joined a trend of spicing up TV sports with
entertainers, such as actor Tom Arnold of Fox Sports Net's Best Damn
Sports Show Period, who present no sports credentials. ESPN makes no
secret of its aspirations to create a buzz.

HBO's Inside the NFL shows that Limbaugh wasn't alone in raising race
issues in sports. On that show two years ago, black comedian Wanda
Sykes did a fictitious bit on ''The Doug Williams School for Running
Abstinence,'' where black quarterbacks go to break away from their
stereotypes. NFL quarterback Rodney Peete, in the skit, had his feet
tied together to keep him from running. There was no criticism of that
sketch.

Thursday, Peete said of Limbaugh's ESPN comments, ''You can have your
opinion, but there are certain things that are sensitive that you have
to adhere to and certain lines that you don't cross. And I think
Limbaugh definitely crossed that line.''

Says HBO Sports President Ross Greenburg: ''When a volatile political
activist takes a microphone, he becomes very dangerous. That came back
to haunt ESPN. And it was only a matter of time.''

ESPN received ''thousands'' of calls and e-mails before Limbaugh
resigned, spokesman Chris LaPlaca says. But, he says, ESPN didn't know
anything about the drug allegations ''until we picked up the morning
papers.''

And then TV morning shows and the Internet picked up the ball and ran:
Search engine Lycos says online searches for Limbaugh tripled
Thursday. And online, everybody seemed to have a take.
Sportsjournalists.com created a chat thread entitled ''Rush Limbaugh
is A Big Fat Pill-Popper.'' But he had plenty of defenders, such as
Tim Leach of Nokomis, Fla., who e-mailed usatoday.com: ''I disagree
with his statement, but so what! Opinions are just that.''

Wrote Bob Burrows of Washougal, Wash.: ''Rush Limbaugh is highly
overrated.''

Now, however, the tempest around Limbaugh goes far beyond football. It
might, suggests David Paro of Deep Alliance Marketing, eventually
affect his ability to draw the listeners and advertisers who give him
an unparalleled perch. No one knows how the story will play out, he
says, ''but so far, it has crescendoed pretty fast.''