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Colleagues, politicians attend Tim Russert's funeral

THE WASHINGTON POST

June 19, 2008

WASHINGTON - Luke Russert has his father's sense of mischief.

Speaking to the well-heeled mourners at Tim Russert's funeral yesterday, he read his father's favorite biblical passage: To whom much is given, much is expected.

"And after seeing the make of some of the suits and dresses in this room," Luke teased, "a lot is expected from this crowd." Uncomfortable laughter rose from the pews at Georgetown's Holy Trinity Catholic Church.

Young Russert was spot on. In the extraordinary outpouring of grief since Tim Russert's sudden passing last week, this humble product of South Buffalo has been given the closest thing to a state funeral this town has seen since the deaths of Presidents Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford.

After days of wall-to-wall tributes to Russert on NBC, MSNBC and even rival outlets, President George W. Bush joined thousands at Russert's wake on Tuesday. Condoleezza Rice, Bill and Hillary Clinton, and Madeleine Albright were among the 2,000 to attend a televised memorial service yesterday afternoon at the Kennedy Center.

In between, a who's who of the elite was chauffeured down 36th Street for the funeral yesterday morning: Barack Obama, John McCain, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, George Stephanopoulos, Tom Brokaw, John Kerry and Brian Williams.

The Irish tenor Ronan Tynan sang "Ave Maria," just as he did for Reagan's funeral. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick - himself a three-time guest on Russert's show - delivered the homily, telling mourners to "pray that the beloved anchor of 'Meet the Press' is now sitting at the large table of the Lord to begin a conversation which will last forever."

The Russert family had taken pains to remember his common touch. It was this, after all, not his status among the elite, that caused the outpouring of grief after his death. They invited far fewer to the private service than the 640 people the church could accommodate.

But officialdom had other plans for Russert's rites. Mayor Michael Bloomberg gave away the secret location of the funeral by broadcasting the address in his public schedule.

Already in the church: Former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo and current Gov. David A. Paterson, Joe Biden, Bill Bradley and Tom Daschle. In they filed: David Gregory, Chris Dodd, James Carville, Paul Begala, Mike McCurry, Victoria Kennedy.

As the coffin was carried up the steps of Holy Trinity, Matt Lauer reached out to put a hand on the shoulder of Russert's widow, Maureen Orth.

Tom Brokaw opened the service: "Tim was raised, as we all know, in a small house in Buffalo." Later, after McCarrick spoke about the "tributes that have come from some of the highest authorities in our nation," Luke Russert, just-graduated from Boston College, spoke with a poise beyond his 22 years.

He asked the mourners to imagine "Meet the Press, Special Edition: Live from inside St. Peter's Gate." The crowd appreciated Luke's recollection of one of his father's favorite Yogi Berra quotations: "Always go to other people's funerals; otherwise they won't go to yours."

Russert needn't have worried. After Tynan struck up "Danny Boy" and the piper piped, the powerful of Washington walked down the church steps to join the swarming Secret Service agents and the idling sedans.