Sunday, March 13, 2011

March 10, 2011


       
 
      David Broder of the Washington Post, who died Wednesday at 81, was the best political reporter I ever knew and also an extremely likeable and modest man.  Some reporters like to thunder into the press conference or the campaign bus.  Not he.  If David spotted a newcomer, he'd say, quietly, "Hi.  I'm Dave Broder."  He didn't need fanfares;  he was just the best.
 
     That's partly, of course, because he loved the job.  He didn't seem to mind the travel, and there's a lot of that.  In a presidential year the Iowa caucuses start things off, probably in January.  The election is in November, of course, and you won't be home much in between.  Some of us grumbled.  David thrived.
 
     He was dismayed sometimes at campaigning's modernisms--you don't have to know anything anymore, just take a poll.  But by an large he loved it and he did it way better than the rest of us.  He knew, I would bet, way more county chairmen than any of us.
 
     He beat us often, but never bragged about it.  He was soft-spoken, fun to be with, to have lunch or dinner with as we wandered along the campaign trail.
 
     You were the best, David--and I'll miss you in person and in print.  

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