Evening Wrap Up....and Tim Russert's Passing....

Details Here

My parents watched Meet the Press as far as I can remember. This was the show that everyone watched on Sunday's to catch up on Washington, DC, but politics period.

I have not always agreed with Russert and MTP, but I respected the man. His political style of interviewing known as the "gotcha interview" was bar none the best in the business. He knew how to get information out of you. He did not beat any punches, he was always well sourced, and if any politician wanted to move forward, especially in the primaries, you had to be drilled by Russert.

His show is what ABCs This Week is not, or Wolf Blitzen's jarring taboidesq performance on CNN. It was all about sitting down and answering the questions. And if the politician could not answer it, you saw it.

Russert was also NBC's Washington bureau chief and did not play around. When David Shuster used the 'pimp' word about Chelsea Clinton, he was suspended. Russert also did not cowtow to Hillary Clinton's demands, either. And after the May 6th NC/IN primary it was Russert's words that moved the media narrative to "Obama is the Presumptive Nominee" and "When is Hillary Clinton leaving the race". It was that jarring, damning and totally correct.

I also loved The Tim Russert Show on MSNBC shown on Saturdays and re-run on Sundays. He talked to everyone who wrote a book, but his guest was just unabashed, real and natural. Watching this show, I always walked away with something new.

Tim Russert, The Gold Standard

Barack Obama on Tim Russert

RIP, Tim Russert. He will be missed.

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obama on social security

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Barack and Michelle visiting Oakleaf Village retirement community in Columbus, Ohio


columbus, ohio

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Town hall talks break down. So, in other words McCain won't have it his way, as in, one town hall a week. Obama offered 2 and then the debates in the fall by the Presidential Debate Commission.

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Obama moves quickly to reshape DNC

Barack Obama’s move to merge key elements of the Democratic National Committee into his own campaign’s Chicago headquarters appears aimed at the goal of a centralized and united Democratic Party.

The shift of the DNC’s political and field organizing operations to Chicago will consolidate the Democratic presidential campaign apparatus more than in either of the last two cycles, when staffers at DNC headquarters overlapped – and occasionally competed – with aides to Al Gore and John Kerry.

Obama’s move also seemed aimed at producing minimum conflict: The DNC didn’t immediately fire any of its staff, and Obama’s aides have publicly embraced DNC Chairman Howard Dean’s vision of a party competitive in all 50 states. But it also left no doubt about where the new center of power lies: On the 11th floor of an undistinguished office tower on Michigan Avenue.

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a house divided, that is the governor of california, arnold schwarzenegger and his wife, maria shriver.