Eighteen months later he was offered a nationally syndicated show by Premiere Radio Network. "The Glenn Beck Program" made its debut in January 2002 on 47 stations. It has grown ever since then.

Outspoken, blunt and confrontational on the air, Beck wrestles continually to reconcile the man he is on the radio and the Mormon he wants to be. When Beck was to be ordained into the LDS priesthood, his name was presented to the congregation for a sustaining vote, as is customary in the church. In a highly unusual occurrence, one man opposed the ordination, later telling local leaders, "Have you heard his show?"

Local church leaders explained that they believed Beck was worthy and ordained him anyway.

"I was heartbroken for the guy who raised his hand," says Beck. "I agreed with him. You know, at first I told people on the air that I was a Mormon all the time, but as I became more and more converted and saw others in the church I wanted to be like, I stopped saying it. I didn't want people to think that's the way Mormons are.

"The show is such a balancing act. I do stuff on the show every day that I regret or question. My language is loose. I'm just different. Every day I get off the air, I think, 'Lord, help me be better. How do I balance this and be a good reflection of you?' I don't think I hit it very often."

He rages on the air against politicians, political correctness and, among other things, the Republican Party (he considers himself a conservative but believes Republicans have lost their way). Whatever his opinion, it carries enough clout that he was summoned to the White House, where Bush explained himself to the radio host but insisted the conversation was off the record.

Beck, who thinks that leaving Iraq now would be the worst mistake since slavery, had demanded that the president stop fighting the war halfway and simply win the war, because this was a strategy Americans would rally around. Beck left the White House stunned and awestruck with his sense of Bush's command of the situation.

"The thing is," Beck says, "he's not the guy you see on TV. I talked to (CNN's) Wolf Blitzer, and he said the exact same thing. It's amazing."

"He is clear and focused, and there are no hems and haws. I would not want to sit across the table from him as an enemy. He said a few things that were breathtaking, and my immediate response was, 'Why are you not saying this?' and he explained. I can't quote him. All I can say is that he has Abraham Lincoln-honorable reasons ... he has chosen not to say certain things. But (the Iraq war) is going much better than people think."