How Will We Get Through Election Night Now?

A little over an hour ago, my fiancé called me on my cell phone.

“Have you heard the bad news?” he said.

I was thinking that something had happened with the Reds or the Bengals or something else sports related. “What bad news?” I said almost jokingly.

“About Tim,” he answered.

“Tim who?”

“Tim Russert. He died today.”

I’m surprised I didn’t swerve my car…

In all honesty, I have no idea what to say right now, but I feel I should say something, so here goes…

If it’s possible to be a huge fan of a journalist, then I was a huge fan of Tim Russert. I used to watch “Meet the Press” religiously and I’d drive my parents crazy quoting him. For me, whatever Tim said was gospel and no politician was worth anything until they had been on “Meet the Press.”

I remember during the last Presidential campaign how everyone was all excited about Howard Dean and how he would be the Democratic candidate. But I knew that his candidacy would collapse. How? Because Tim had shredded him to pieces on “Meet the Press.”

As I told my fiancé, John McCain and Barack Obama have a cakewalk now…

I never met Tim Russert, but that doesn’t stop me from mourning his loss and from getting a little choked up as I write this and I hear numerous people on MSNBC talk about how wonderful he was.

And hearing the voice of my rock Tom Brokaw cracking as he reported the news? Well, I’m still trying to recover from that…

It’s interesting that after I stopped watching “Meet the Press” when I started getting more disillusioned with current politics that it was my mom who would quote Tim from what she had seen him say on “Today.”

At the risk of getting too personal, I can’t help but wonder if they’re having a conversation today. Maybe she’s telling him, “My daughter is such a fan of yours.”

I honestly have no idea how we’ll get through Election Night without him…