Jack Germond, 1928-2013

With the death of Jack Germond at 85, the great triumvirate of political reporting is now gone. Germond, Robert Novak, and David Broder were the Clay, Calhoun, and Webster of political journalism with their columns and TV commentary, but mostly with their dogged reporting.

Germond knew that Washington was a trap for journalists. It’s the center of the political community but often the last to understand what is happening politically across the country. Trends might die in Washington, but more often than not they don’t begin there.