Tim Russert has been named the best and most influential journalist in Washington, D.C. He is the managing editor and moderator of Meet the Press and political analyst for NBC Nightly News and the Today program. He anchors The Tim Russert Show, a weekly interview program on CNBC and is a contributing anchor for MSNBC.

Now in its 58th year, Meet the Press is the longest-running program in the history of television. Russert took over the helm in December 1991, and has interviewed every major figure on the American political scene. His Election 2000 Meet the Press interviews with George W. Bush and Al Gore won the Radio and Television Correspondents’ highest honor, the Joan S. Barone Award and the Annenberg Center’s Walter Cronkite Award. He has also covered eight U.S. – Russia Summits and has led NBC News weeklong broadcasts from South America, Australia and China.

A graduate of John Carroll University and the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, Russert holds 41 honorary doctorate degrees from American colleges and universities. He has lectured at the Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Reagan Presidential Libraries.