Florida, Florida, Florida

As the news channels all stop what they're doing to salute Tim Russert's hearse, there are two lessons we can learn. First, if you want to be mourned, genuinely mourned on TV, be a TV host. Second, it is possible to be a very important man, and still have people remember you chiefly for your white board.

What I'd like to reflect on, though, is that his heart was enlarged. I know a little about pathology, and I know that enlarged organs are unhealthy. Enlarged livers are a sign of cirrhosis, splenomegaly could hardly be anything but a disease, and I don't even want to know what happens when your brain gets large.

I don't want to feel that way though. Large organs should be a sign of robustness, like large muscles or large bones, whereas feebleness is for the small. In a better world, Tim Russert's enlarged heart could more efficiently spread love throughout the body politic.