Beloved Political News Journalist Tim Russert Dies at 58

The shocking and sad news that NBC and MSNBC news veteran Tim Russert passed on Friday at the age of 58 is reverberating around the nation today. He is somebody my family and I spent many years watching on television, and somebody of whom I have many fond memories.

Tim Russert and the landmark NBC Sunday morning news show he hosted for nearly two decades, Meet the Press, were an important part of my family's television news life. In fact, my younger sister and I made appointments to watch Meet the Press together on Sunday mornings for a number of years. Meet the Press was the first political round table show that I watched devoutly, and Tim Russert was perhaps the most exciting and intellectually stimulating news figure to watch and listen to.

During primaries and general-election evenings, my family and I always tuned to NBC (and later MSNBC, also) to watch Tim Russert's analysis and insights on the day's voting, what the polls were saying, and what he thought the implications, issues, and factors were playing into the election results.

Of course, as a Floridian, one of the most vivid memories I have of Tim Russert is when on the evening of the 2000 election, he and his now-famous white board illustrated to the nation how many electoral votes George W. Bush and Al Gore would need to win the election. Of course, as we all later came to know, Tim Russert announced that it would be Florida that would decide the election, and sure enough, the Sunshine State was absolutely pivotal in deciding the outcome of that historic election.

Tim Russert was in a class of political journalism and analysis all his own. He was one of those rare news figures who was a legend in his own time. Yet, I think he also represented a sort of "everyman." He introduced us to his beloved father, "Big Russ," he shared his love for his son, Luke, and his family. We all knew he was a proud of his Catholic faith and Irish-American heritage. And, of course, who cannot remember his passionate cheers and support for he Buffalo Bills, the NFL football of his New York hometown, at the end of some of his Meet the Press broadcasts?