Oh no - Tim Russert has died

The "Explainer-in-Chief." One of the bright shining lights in the media darkness. His famous whiteboard he uses on Election Night should go in the Smithsonian. How can we have an election without him? I'm shocked.

Update: He collapsed today from a heart attack while at his NBC News office here in Washington and died.

From here.

WASHINGTON -- NBC News is reporting that Tim Russert has died. Russert was the managing editor and moderator of "Meet the Press" and political analyst for "NBC Nightly News" and the "Today" show. He also anchored "The Tim Russert Show," a weekly interview program on MSNBC. He wrote to New York Times #1 bestsellers -- "Big Russ and Me" "Wisdom of Our Fathers." Russert took over "Meet the Press" in December 1991. It became the most watched Sunday morning interview program in the country. It is the longest-running program in television history. Russert joined NBC News in 1984. He was born in Buffalo, N.Y., on May 7, 1950. He graduated from Canisius High School, John Carroll University and with honors from the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law. Before joining NBC, Russert served as counselor in the New York governor's office in Albany in 1983 and 1984 and as special counsel in the U.S. Senate from 1977 to 1982. He was admitted to the bar in New York and D.C. Russert is survived by his wife, Maureen Orth, a writer for Vanity Fair magazine, and their son, Luke.