Coworkers at CBS scoffed when John Roberts showed up to deliver the news in 1992. He had cut his broadcasting teeth reading hog reports in Owen Sound, Ont., and veejaying in Toronto. "He was thought of as a pretty boy," says CBS News president Andrew Heyward. Three Emmys later, the 44-year-old Sunday anchorman and chief White House correspondent has the highly visible job of covering Al Gore's presidential campaign. Next stop, say media critics, could be Dan Rather's seat at the Evening News—a chair Roberts often fills when Rather is away. Still, the square-jawed image is hard to shake for the 6-ft. Roberts, who lives in Great Falls, Va., with his wife, Michele, 42, son Kyle, 15, and daughter Taylor, 9. "Sometimes," he complains, "I'll write a great report that is hardhitting and covers all the bases, and people will say, 'What's up with your hair?' " Usually not much, at least for an anchorman. "I don't use a blow-dryer and I use hairspray as little as possible," he says.