Heartbreaking news in the wake of the death of Tim Russert.

Former White House press secretary Tony Snow -- who once told reporters "I'm a very lucky guy" -- died at the age of 53 early Saturday after a second battle with cancer.

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President Bush said Saturday that he and first lady Laura Bush were "deeply saddened" by Snow's death.

"The Snow family has lost a beloved husband and father. And America has lost a devoted public servant and a man of character," the president said in a statement.

"It was a joy to watch Tony at the podium each day."

I had the great opportunity to see Tony Snow on the stump at a fundraiser here in Cincinnati. He was absolutely fantastic, authentic, and with charisma. He also had local roots here and the crowd loved him. His service as a press secretary was a huge asset to the Bush administration.

He was also a favorite stand in for Rush Limbaugh and an excellent commentator on Fox News. To say he will be missed would be an enormous understatement.

Let's get to the meat of the controversy around the late great Senator No: Jesse Helms.

It's not because he was a racist bigot in his years as a Southern Democrat. Oh yes, you didn't realize that from Ken's diatribe did you? That when Senator Helms was saying those hateful things, he was a Democrat, as were nearly all of the racist segregationist dixiecrats of the era.

In fact, the person who led the filibuster against the civil rights bill of 1964 and was a full member of the KKK is still a Democrat and a lionized member of the Democratic party. I haven't seen Ken Layne write any screeds against Senator Roberty Byrd or threaten to kick him out of the party lately. So the problem with Jesse Helms can't be his segregationist past, or else the Democrats would be craven hypocrites on this issue.

From the WSJ today:

Indeed, the mainstream media rarely put Helms's career in context the way they did, for example, with Sam Ervin, a Democrat who served with Helms in the Senate from North Carolina before retiring in 1975. Ervin was the leading legal strategist against Civil Rights legislation, and he largely crafted the Southern Manifesto against Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court case that ruled school segregation unconstitutional. But Ervin was the man who chaired the Watergate hearings that helped bring down Richard Nixon, and his views on civil rights were almost never mentioned. Both Helms and Ervin were courtly, principled conservatives. Only one became a cartoon media villain.

No their real problem and the root of their disgust with Jesse Helms was his success at stopping liberal policies, and even worse, he might just be responsible for giving us the Reagan revolution:

Two events early in his Senate career showcased Helms's unflinching nature and his political skills. In 1975, he engineered a visit to the U.S. by Soviet dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn over the objections of the State Department, which forbade its own employees from attending a major Solzhenitsyn speech in Washington. State also blocked a proposed visit to the White House, leading Helms to accuse President Gerald Ford of "cowering timidly for fear of offending Communists."

That incident helped spur Reagan to challenge Ford for the GOP nomination the next year. Reagan lost the first five primaries, and he entered the North Carolina contest broke and under pressure to pull out. But Helms and his chief strategist Tom Ellis refused to give up. They employed Helms's huge, direct-mail list to build a grass-roots army of volunteers and raise money to air 30-minute speeches by Reagan across the state.

Emphasizing the Panama Canal "giveaway" and smaller government, Reagan won an upset victory and was able to battle Ford all the way to the GOP convention. He showed such strength at the convention that Ford invited him to deliver off-the-cuff remarks to the delegates. Reagan was so inspiring that some of Ford's own delegates exclaimed, "We just nominated the wrong candidate." Reagan later acknowledged how Helms's intervention rescued his political career.

We're going to hear a lot of selective outrage about Jesse Helms and his racist past and whatever, but remember this, he was hated because he was a successful conservative warrior who stood up for what he believed in and got things done. He was the bane of liberals from the seventies on and he has not been forgiven for that sin. And even worse: He couldn't have cared less what the national media thought of him.

RIP Senator No.

NBC News Washington Bureau Chief and host of Meet the Press has died suddenly today while at work at the NBC Washintgon Bureau.

MSNBC reports that Russert, 58, was at work recording voice-overs for Meet the Press when he suddenly collapsed and died of an apparent heart attack. Tim is survived by his wife, Maureen Orth, his son Luke and his dad "Big Russ".

We at Political Machine offer our heartfelt sympathy to Tim's family, friends and co-workers. Our parent Web site, AOL News has full coverage here. MSNBC has continuing coverage and is offering this video for tribute:

The legendary Charlton Heston, whose iconic acting roles defined an era of cinema, has passed away at the age of 84.

"If Hollywood had a Mt. Rushmore," said publicist Michael Levine, who represented Heston for 20 years, "Heston's face would be on it," Heston's epic films include "The Ten Commandments," "El Cid," "55 Days at Peking," "Planet of the Apes," "Soylent Green," and 11 Academy Award winning "Ben-Hur," for which he won the 1959 best actor Oscar. Heston proudly cited the host of historical figures he portrayed, including Andrew Jackson, Moses, El Cid, John the Baptist, Michelangelo, General Gordon, Marc Antony, Cardinal Richelieu, Henry VIII and, of course, Ben-Hur.

The actor later transitioned into an industry and political leader. He served as president of the Screen Actors Guild and chairman of the American Film Institute, marched in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and served as president of the National Rifle Association. In 2003, Heston was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.

Happily, we are left with a lengthy legacy of Heston's on-screen work. A mandatory viewing of Ben-Hur is as central to my Easter celebration as Sunday mass and ham at dinner. If you've not yet enlightened yourself to Heston's brilliant work, hours (and hours) of thrilling joy await!