So, after spending an entire month talking about television, I had contemplated taking a break from the recently launched Tube Day Tuesday. But, as I’m watching the election results (though I was in school for the major prime-time coverage), I am reminded of elections past, and a missing familiar face.
While I am not particularly a political person, and have never exactly enjoyed watching election results (though I can’t not watch), newsman Tim Russert used to make it all much more bearable for me. He was knowledgeable, and personable, and he—along with that whiteboard of his—made sense of the nonsensical electoral vote process. I appreciated him for that.
You know, when I looked him up this evening, I saw that he first broke out that election whiteboard back in the 2000 election. I would’ve thought it was before that, but I think that’s the true mark of something extraordinary: once you’ve found it, it becomes so ingrained that it seems like it’s always been around, and you can’t imagine not having it.
Tim Russert was only 58 years old when he passed away just over four years ago, just months before having the opportunity to tally up electoral votes during the historic election of 2008. I missed him that night, just as I am missing him tonight.
Image credit: digitalart/FreeDigitalPhotos.net
