The Happiest Guy At The Primary

This photo — and title — is left over from the New Hampshire primary, one of many planned posts that linger on in draft after the news cycle drags me away from it. It wasn't a problem, because I had always planned to write it up — and it never got stale, from January 11, 2008 when it was first started through last Saturday, when Hillary Clinton conceded the Democratic nomination. Last week, I'd meant to expand on it for a top five or ten happiest people, running down the players who always seemed to be relishing their part in this historic campaign season. As always, the non-news-hook post got pushed down the list, and I figured I'd get to it next week. It would wait.

As it turned out, it would not. Shockingly, incredibly,Tim Russert died Friday, and just like that a fixture of the campaign and the news cycle and Sunday morning — and media, politics and public life as a whole — was gone. I found myself tearing up as I thought back to him on primary nights or the nightly news, as animated as anyone could ever be about a favorite subject, cheeks fairly popping from his smile. I watched "Meet the Press" every week in some form but it was my least favorite way to see him — I had grown to like and appreciate Russert during his appearances covering the election, on MSNBC 'til past midnight or grinning on "Morning Joe," ushered in to the sounds of a Springsteen song as Joe Scarborough called him "Boss," or on his Saturday-afternoon show — a simple affair on the D.C. bureau set or against a stark black background — as he chit-chatted with journalists and historians about the news of the day.

This was a different Russert from the intense, focused, poised-to-pounce guy on MTP — in these satellite roles, he seemed to be more relaxed, like talking with friends, given to straying into political-historical minutiae, calling back to the founders, jovially dropping presidential quotes and saying things like, "Not since Thomas Jefferson dined alone have we seen such intellectual candlepower in one room!"

I had kept that one up my sleeve for when I eventually met him — I figured I would need an icebreaker, since if Russert knew me at all it was probably from my turn on "Russert Watch" duty here at HuffPo. It had been bequeathed to me by Arianna when I first came on board. I hadn't been a regular MTP watcher before then (confession: never in my life) and in order to do so I had to work hard to scramble up the curve. I would spend all Sunday hunkered over the computer, transcribing and Googling and trying to get on top of Iraq war news (and spin), and immigration and energy policy and, on Easter, matters religious and historical. (And as a Canadian, I also appreciated that time he closed the show with the Stanley Cup.) It was my job to hold Russert's feet to the fire if he didn't do the same to his guests, but man oh man did I have to work hard to get there.

"Russert Watch" was a great crash course for me, and it stayed that way — and then election season started. Television became a constant companion, which meant Russert was, too, through debates and primaries and analytical segments on "NBC Nightly News" and visits to "Morning Joe." It was December when it hit me, after one of those MSNBC pre-Super Tuesday Super Tuesdays, and I emailed this to a friend: "Tim Russert has really really grown on me. Today watching him do some Super Tues questioning he was just so animated and excited." In our debate liveblogs, I particularly enjoyed making goofy jokes about his rather large head. If you Google "Tim Russert" and "noggin," we're the first hit.

Here's the thing about watching that much TV: You start to get to know everyone, sort of well. You recognize phrases they reuse, you see their spontaneous reactions, you figure out whether you like them. You see them liking each other. That last part is what made it so hard to watch the folks at NBC and MSNBC trying to report this weekend on the loss of their friend and mentor. TV makeup can cover puffy eyes, but it can't cover a shaking voice, or that bewildered look of loss, plain on every face.

I've met a bunch of those people, but I never met Tim. I saw him in the hotel bar in Manchester after the primary, but he was wearing a ball cap and drinking a beer, and I didn't want to bug him. It was a long election season, and there was tons of time. It would wait. And now, it will.

The video from which the above moment was taken is here. Watch how excited Russert gets from about 2:44: "We're only five days into this primary season, and look at this race on both sides! Amazing." The camera cuts away and you can see Brian Williams, smiling at his friend's enthusiasm. There are many such items on YouTube.