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Journalist Russert 'Swung For The Fences'

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By JACQUES STEINBERG

The New York Times

Published: June 14, 2008

Tim Russert, a fixture in American homes on Sunday mornings and election nights since becoming moderator of "Meet the Press" nearly 17 years ago, died Friday of a heart attack after collapsing at the Washington bureau of NBC News. He was 58.

His death was announced by Tom Brokaw, former anchor of "NBC Nightly News," who broke into the network's programming just after 3:30 p.m.

When stricken, Russert had been recording voice-overs for this Sunday's program. Russert, who was also the Washington bureau chief of NBC News and a senior vice president, had recently returned from a trip to Italy to celebrate the recent graduation of his son, Luke, from Boston College.

The news swept the capital like a shock wave, with colleagues, rivals, President Bush and those vying to succeed him remembering Russert as a superb practitioner of political analysis and an irrepressible son of blue-collar Buffalo who, quite simply, loved the game. His influence was such that an appearance on the top-rated "Meet the Press" could boost or sink a candidate, and when he declared after midnight on May 6 that Barack Obama had wrapped up the Democratic nomination, that was treated as a news event in itself.

Sen. Barack Obama told reporters he considered Russert "not only a journalist but a friend ... I am grief-stricken with loss."

Sen. John McCain, the presumed Republican nominee, called Russert "the pre-eminent political journalist of his generation."

With his plain-spoken explanations and hard-hitting questions, Russert played an increasingly outsize role in the media's coverage of politics. The elegantly simple white memo board he used on election night in 2000 to explain the deadlock in the race between George W. Bush and Al Gore - "Florida, Florida, Florida," he had scribbled, in red marker - became one of the most iconic images in the history of American television coverage of the road to the White House.

"He really was the best political journalist in America, not just the best television journalist in America," said Al Hunt, the Washington executive editor of Bloomberg News and former Wall Street Journal Washington bureau chief.

Russert's political analysis was born from experience: He had worked as a counselor for Gov. Mario M. Cuomo of New York in 1983 and 1984; for five years before that he had been special counsel to Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York.

Death Leaves Big Shoes To Fill

"Meet the Press," the top-rated public affairs program on television, is viewed by nearly 4 million people each Sunday, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Brokaw is scheduled to host a special edition of "Meet the Press" on Sunday, which will pay tribute to Russert's life and career. With Russert's unexpected death, NBC will be forced to confront a question with no immediate answer: how to replace its lead political analyst with the presidential election just five months away.

As his shaken colleagues - Brian Williams, David Gregory, Andrea Mitchell, Keith Olbermann - remembered Russert during hours of continuous coverage on MSNBC Friday, it was a reminder of how ubiquitous he had become during the primaries, appearing on camera from early morning until late at night. The consensus was that his death will leave a void in the campaign that may be impossible to fill.

Russert Was Unlikely Star

With his bulky frame, thick face and devilishly arched eyebrows, Timothy John Russert Jr. was an unlikely television star. And it was not just that he was the son of a one-time garbage collector in his native Buffalo, N.Y., or a graduate, with honors, of the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law.

He joined NBC in 1984. "Meet the Press" was languishing in the ratings when Russert took it over in 1991, and he first gained national attention by stumping David Duke, a Louisiana gubernatorial candidate, with a question about the state's three biggest employers. Russert later expanded the program to an hour, grabbed the ratings lead a decade ago and never relinquished it.

Russert won an Emmy in 2005 for his role in the coverage of Ronald Reagan's funeral, and this year Time magazine named him one of the world's 100 most influential people.

Russert was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame board of directors in 2003, according to Web site of Major League Baseball. Among those on the board with Russert is Yankees principal owner George Steinbrenner.

"I join millions of others in mourning Tim's passing. He loved the game of baseball and was a true friend of the Yankees and mine," the Tampa resident is quoted on the Web site. "Tim always batted in the cleanup spot for the media and always hit for the fences. May God bless him and his family."

In addition to his son, Russert is survived by his wife, Maureen Orth, a writer for Vanity Fair magazine, and his father, Tim Russert. He is also survived by three sisters, whose names NBC would not provide Friday, for privacy reasons.

Information from The Washington Post was used in this report.

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