My office political buddy - the one who helped me get through Florida '00 - called me with the news even before it broke this afternoon. "You won't believe it, Tim Russert died," she said. Russert's sudden death at only 58 is a tragedy for his family and friends, and it also marks the passing of perhaps the signature personality of the era of what Jim Wolcott affectionately termed the "attack poodles" of talking head TV. The man quite literally was the rock upon which the modern television punditocracy of political insiders was constructed. We all loved to bash Russert, of course. Hell, I did it just a month ago when he declared the Democratic primary race over. But he did define his era, the latter stages of the long and vital period when television dominated national politics. Its hold has begun to slip as online voices rise, but you'd have certainly wished Tim Russert another 20 years or so of tough questions, Sunday morning roundtables, and that little chalk board. The timing is so damned difficult as well - certainly for a well-known family man who wrote so popularly about fatherhood. But for the rest of us, there's this crazy election. Russert's absence creates a huge void at the center of mainstream political media. And come November, who'll tell us who won?
UPDATE: Joe Gandelman has one of his patented wrap-ups along with his take on Russert's importance. Blue Girl offers an amusing personal story. Jane Hamsher has the essence.
