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I went on the floor a lot to—

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as the eyes and ears, to see what was going on.
At first, it was to listen and learn,

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to really absorb the parliamentary procedures, the processes, 
what happened, who was close to who, who talked to whom.

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And as Members saw me more and more on the floor,

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they would come over to me and say,
"I'd like to have Tip come out to my district."

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This happened more as later we got into the Leader's office.
"You know, I'd really like to ask Tip to come out to my office."

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The younger members were much more comfortable talking to me.
They were younger. They were comfortable with a woman.

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And they were a little more intimidated talking, 
maybe, to Speaker O'Neill. They didn't know him. 

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They hadn't served so long.
So they would ask me what I thought.

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And generally, I would give them advice, 

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or I'd say, "You know I think you should ask him directly.
Just go right to him. You'll be pleased with his answer."

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If I thought it was something where I needed to maybe smooth things over 
before they talked to him, explain what their interests were 

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because I knew, maybe, this particular individual was not one 
the Speaker was enamored about, then I would do that first.