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Russert Tributes Overwhelm NBC, 'Meet The Press'

The Associated Press

An unidentified woman pauses after placing a bouquet of flowers at the entrance to NBC Studios in Washington June 13 after it was announced that Tim Russert, host of NBC's "Meet the Press" and NBC News Washington bureau chief, collapsed and died at work Friday after suffering an apparent heart attack. He was 58.

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The Washington Post

Published: June 15, 2008

WASHINGTON - An extraordinary outpouring of tributes to Tim Russert continued nonstop Saturday as people left flowers and notes at NBC's Washington bureau, the presidential candidates praised his fairness and his network planned a special edition of "Meet the Press" for today.

The moderator's chair, filled by Russert since Dec. 8, 1991, will be left empty to honor the 58-year-old political analyst who died of a heart attack Friday.

"We hope to do him proud," Betsy Fischer, Russert's longtime executive producer, said Saturday. "What I really want to get across is what Tim did for 'Meet the Press' - where he took the show and how much it meant to him."

Tom Brokaw, the network's former anchor, will lead a discussion with such friends as commentator Mike Barnicle, political strategists James Carville and Mary Matalin, historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, PBS's Gwen Ifill and Maria Shriver, California's first lady.

A memorial service will be held in Washington this week, but no details have been released. Buffalo, N.Y., Russert's beloved home town, plans a candlelight vigil in a park named for the man who became NBC's Washington bureau chief.

On a special edition of "Today," Sen. Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, said on Saturday, "He would hold you accountable, but you always had a sense that he was fair, that he wasn't trying to make himself more important in the process."

Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee who appeared on the show 52 times, said: "He was always fair. He was always tough. He always would send a little trepidation through me when I would see a quote thrown up on the screen, because he always did his homework."

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