Political pundit Robert D. Novak, R.I.P.

From POLITICO:

Robert Novak, one of Washington's most influential political journalists of the past half-century, died Tuesday after a battle with brain cancer. He was 78.

Nicknamed the "prince of darkness," Novak was both widely read and feared by Washington's political elite. He began his famed column "Inside Report" with Rowland Evans in 1963, continuing as a duo until the latter's retirement in 1993. Novak kept the column going until he was diagnosed with a brain tumor in July 2008.

Outside the Beltway, Novak was a familiar face to millions who watched him on CNN's political chat shows like "Crossfire" and "The Capital Gang."

In interviews with POLITICO, friends and colleagues remembered Novak on Tuesday as a tough competitor with a warm heart — or, as CNN political director Sam Feist summed him up, "a damn good reporter."

"He wanted to know facts and he cultivated sources, and his career that spanned some 50 years in Washington, he may have been the best sourced reporter in Washington through many of those years," said Feist, who first worked with Novak as an intern in 1989.

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