Michael Kranish, Nina Easton, and Brian Mooney

Michael Kranish, Nina Easton, and Brian Mooney (l. to r.),coauthors of "John F. Kerry, the Complete Biography, by The Boston Globe Reporters Who Know Him Best," were Friday's guests. Here are excerpts from their remarks:

(Mooney) "He is an incredibly complicated man."

(Easton) "Inability to [speak in] declarative sentences in many, many cases."

(Mooney) "There are long periods where he is just a dreadful candidate ... and then something happens and he becomes a much better candidate, much more aggressive."

(Easton) "He wants to be both a war hero and an antiwar hero."

(Kranish) "They used him and he used them probably is the fairest way to put it."

(Easton) "[His aides describe] these freewheeling bull sessions where he would come in, and he loved to play devil's advocate.... But he kept his own decision close to the vest."

(Kranish) "When I went back to talk to folks who knew him from St. Paul's and Yale, I was amazed at how many not only remembered him so vividly from the time 40 years ago but many of them still are close to him today.... They would describe him, obviously, as very likeable and not aloof."