Jun 13, 2008 7:44 pm US/Eastern
Marcia Kramer Blog: Before Tim Was Tim
(CBS)
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Tim Russert died on June 13 at the age of 58 following a heart attack.
AP
I knew Tim Russert before he was "Tim Russert." Before he was THE face of Meet the Press and NBC's political analyst extraordinaire.
Back in the day, as they say, Tim was the Press Secretary for Mario Cuomo, who had just been elected governor of New York. And I was the Albany Bureau Chief for the New York Daily News.
He was politically astute, a Machiavellian manipulator of reporters covering Cuomo, and had one of the most puckish senses of humor ever.
One of my assignments as Bureau chief was to write a Monday political column. Every Sunday, say around 10 a.m., my phone would ring and I could tell it was Russert because he would bellow, "Maaashaa."
I knew I was in trouble then -- because he was always calling with a mission.
Sometimes the mission was to get me to put some story in my column that would make the boss (Cuomo) look good, or more often, skewer one of the governor's enemies du jour.
Much as he did on Meet the Press, Tim played hardball. If I didn't think the story pitch was worth much, he would slam the phone down and say, "OK, I'm calling the Post."
And he would, too.
But sometimes he gave me another chance. He would call back within five minutes and say, "Okay I'll give you one more chance before I call Dicker." (Fred Dicker, who is the Post's still-reigning Albany Bureau Chief).
I also remember how it came to pass that Tim Russert, lawyer, former aide to Sen. Daniel P. Moynihan, and proud son of Buffalo became NBC's news guru.
One day an unnamed member of the Cuomo administration -- most likely jealous about Russert's clout with the gov -- leaked an item to the New York Post's Page Six. The gist of the article was that Russert was in trouble with Cuomo and could lose his job.
"Don't worry about me, 'Maashaa,'" he said. "I'm not in trouble."
And after the item ran, Russert got lots of job offers -- lots and lots of job offers. He took the one offered by NBC to become the network's Washington Bureau Chief.
And the rest, they say, is history.
But I must confess thinking it about it again today: Knowing how smart and wiley Tim was, I wonder who was behind the Page Six item. I sometimes see the fine hand of Tim Russert himself.
Over the years Tim and I would see each other at various political events, conventions, debates, etc. He also gave me that same bear-like bellow of "Maaashaaa."
And I always said "Russssert."
I'll miss that.
The 2008 conventions in Denver and Minneapolis-St Paul will have something missing without him. A big something. Tim was absolutely the best at what he did. His passing leaves a big hole in the fellowship of journalists.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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