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The news today of the passing of Tim Russert is very sad. I was once a political junkie and gravitated to Tim Russert and Meet the Press because as has been reported many times today, he learned everything he could about the interviewee and took the other side.
There is something to be said about that. About not forcing ones political thoughts and opinions into the conversation. About being tough and fair without taking a side.
This year I have found myself getting back into caring about politics again. Not just because of one candidate or another but because for me, maybe for the first time, I will truly vote for someone and not the lesser of two crappy choices.
The morning of the 2000 election on The Today Show he was asked something about was the one thing to watch for that night, what one word and his response was Florida.
Election night I had stopped at the Democratic party, as in where people were drinking and hanging out, to see my friends there. I then headed to another hotel ballroom where the Republicans were holding their party. It is always more fun to be at the place that is winning and that night I was thinking it would be the Republicans.
I remember during the evening Russert pulled out the whiteboard to make better sense of it all. Red states, blue states. That whole damn evening was confusing but when he went to the whiteboard it all made sense.
I was in the ballroom when Florida was called for Gore. The place went silent and a lot of people left. Then they called it back and those still there were cheering. They then called it for Bush and I headed home so I could see Gore concede. (Which of course was only the beginning of the story.)
I think this photo is from the following Sunday’s Meet the Press when things were still in doubt and explaining how we got into the mess:
I remember most from the whiteboard election night, “Florida, Florida, Florida”
Since I have been following this election season I have been watching a lot of coverage during the week but always made sure to catch Meet the Press. I get tired of the same BS from the cable news channel folks and Russert always had the right people on, asking the questions I was thinking about, and put things into perspective.
He also has a show that aired on CNBC on Saturday evenings call The Tim Russert Show that I would usually catch on a replay during the week. I actually like(d) it more than Meet the Press as he interviewed reporters, authors, and others who were not political candidates. He had more time to get in to the lives of his guests and what they were about. He of course would share things about his father Big Russ and his son Luke.
It is worth noting that in 2004 he said well in advance that it would come down to Ohio. He was right.
For 2008 he had recently said the Democrats could lose Florida and Ohio but if they take three out of four from Arizona, Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico they will win.
Will be interesting to see if Mr. Russert goes three for three.
Thoughts and prayers to the Russert family.
Go Bills.
Welcome to the Minnesota Headhunter Blog. My name is Paul DeBettignies (pronounced De-Bett-ingz).
I started writing this blog in May of 2005 to share thoughts and ideas I had as an IT recruiter.
Since then I expanded this site to include local recruiter jobs, links to Minnesota business news and promote the local tech community.
I am the Principal of Minnesota Headhunter, LLC a Minneapolis IT search firm and a frequent local and national speaker and article contributor on recruiter, HR, career, networking and social media topics.
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Thank you for reading.
Paul DeBettignies
Minnesota Headhunter
Daily Twitter Notes
Sometimes the day does not allow a blog post let alone write about things on my mind or I hear about like economic, political, local news (sports too).
With Twitter, you at least get some of the flavor, a flash moment during the day, of what I am thinking about. You can follow during the day or see the digest below.
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MN Headhunter on Twitter | June 29 - 28, 2008 (last one first):
June 29, 2008
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