Florida! Florida! Florida!

Just a final bit about Russert.
The Meet The Press tribute was touching. The tributes filling NBC and their affiliates' regular programming had begun to get a little stale and repetitive but this hour with some of Russert's closest friends and colleagues was packed with raw emotion. The guests let their collective guard down more than in previous days, where each statement and tribute seemed prepared and calculated (which is understandable. Nobody wants to break down on national television).
The set (Tom Brokaw and a half-dozen others were seated in front of the Meet the Press set, its angular table left vacant), which many had shared as recently as a few weeks ago, and time (Father's day) seemed to really affect the group. I have never seen James Carville as quiet or Brokaw as vulnerable. Throughout the broadcast, it was plainly visible on the panelists' faces that they were trying so hard to get through each "answer", to not cry. On a set where an invisible wall once seemed to sit between moderator and subject, constructed to remove emotion and leave only the subjects' answers, consoling hands reached across. Carville throughout the hour, but for one anecdote about a college football game, sat pensive, head sunk, holding hands with wife Mary Matalin. Brokaw, usually the embodiment of stolid gravitas, choked up when describing Russert's wide-eyed, idyllic world view.
"What a country!"
But what struck me most in retrospect was that these 7 men and women cared about politics and honesty in its coverage as much as Tim did and that my sense of dread immediately following his death regarding the future coverage of this election and politics in general without Tim may have been misplaced. Although I do believe Russert is in many ways irreplaceable, Meet The Press is a strong enough institution to survive his death and continue to be relevant and important if the right stewardship is found.
I didn't think I would say this so soon but I can't wait for Meet The Press next Sunday.