He’s at the top of his game

Tim Russert occasionally watched “Meet the Press” while growing up in Buffalo, but he never thought about himself on the screen. He wanted to be a baseball player.

This Sunday, however, marks 12 years and five weeks that he’s been the political talk show’s moderator, beating the NBC show’s longevity record by one week.

Ned Brooks, who left in 1965, had the previous record.

“You never have a sense of whether people will respond to you as a person and a journalist and whether they want to watch you,” Russert said.

“The clicker can be awfully cruel. But so far, they’ve affirmed what we’re trying to do.” “Meet the Press” has gone from third place to a dominant first in the ratings during Russert’s tenure.

He said his most memorable show was on Sept. 16, 2001, when he interviewed Vice President Dick Cheney about the terrorist attacks.

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry is Sunday’s guest, after Dick Gephardt last week.

“We’re working our way back to Howard Dean, I hope,” said Russert, who had a contentious interview with the Democratic frontrunner last summer.

Lawrence Spivak, creator of “Meet the Press,” was with the show longer -- 28 years -- but was a panelist, not the moderator, during much of that time.