WASHINGTON: When I was just starting out, in the mid-1970's, I got a freelance assignment from the Los Angeles Times' Sunday sup, called West,to do a profile of a now-legendary California campaign manager named Joseph R. Cerrell. The idea of the story was that I would follow Cerrell around as he worked with various candidates. That led me to Sen. Hubert H. Humphrey, and that led me to columnist Bob Novak, who died this week. It was from Novak that I learned one of the best lessons a young reporter could ever learn.