It's not that fun, but once you do it, once you create this world, it makes the writing a lot of fun. The research on The American President was so much fun to do. I got to hang out at the White House, talk with the President a couple of times. It was fantastic. The difficult part of doing the research in the beginning is you don't know what it is you are looking for.
Research is easy if it's like finding out when Columbus discovered America.
It's not when you're just trying to get a sense of this world. The times that I went to the White House I didn't know what it was that I was looking for. I was just trying to get an idea of what it's like, what's the dynamic there. You stumble across things that are going to help you. You'll find a certain pulse, a certain life that's inspirational somehow.