TIM RUSSERT, JOHN CARROLL UNIVERSITY CLASS OF '72, TO MODERATE DEMOCRATIC DEBATE

NBC's Tim Russert (JCU Class of '72) and Brian Williams will moderate the Democratic Debate on Tuesday, February 26 from 9-10:30 p.m.  NBC Nightly News and WKYC-TV 3 will broadcast live from the debate floor of the Wolstein Center at Cleveland State University.

Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have accepted an invitation from Cleveland State and NBC to debate in Cleveland. 

The debate will be streamed live on www.msnbc.com. 

To learn more about the debate, click here.

ABOUT TIMOTHY J. RUSSERT

Timothy J. Russert is senior vice president and Washington bureau chief of NBC News.

He has been managing editor and moderator of “Meet The Press” since December 1991, having first appeared as a panelist on that program in September 1990. Mr. Russert has also served as a national political analyst on “The Today Show” since June 1991.

In April 1985, he supervised the NBC News “Today” show’s live broadcasts from Rome, negotiating and arranging for a televised private Mass and greeting from Pope John Paul II, a first for American television. In 1986 and 1987 he led the NBC News week-long efforts from South America, Australia and China. In 1990 he oversaw production of the prime time news special “A Day in the Life of the White House.” From 1986 to 1991, he participated in the coverage of six US/USSR Summits in Geneva, Malta, Washington and Moscow.

Prior to joining NBC News, Mr. Russert served as counselor to New York Governor Mario M. Cuomo (1983 and 1984). He also served as special counsel and, later, chief of staff to United States Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (1977 to 1982). In 1980, Mr. Russert was selected as a Fellow of the Commission of European Communities.

Mr. Russert was born in Buffalo, New York, on May 7, 1950. He is a graduate of Canisius High School, John Carroll University (where he was president of the Student Union and recipient of the Centennial Medal, awarded to the 100 most distinguished alumni) and the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law (cum laude).

He is admitted to the bar in New York State and the District of Columbia and, in 1992, received the John Peter Zenger Award from the New York State Bar Association.

To each of those roles, Russert applies lessons he learned at John Carroll University and in his Jesuit education. “The Jesuits have a simple philosophy, and that is, there is a world beyond yourself — that you really should be men and women for others,” Russert said on a recent Sunday morning before the cameras rolled. “That is what I learned at John Carroll University.