Time for change: Michael Elliott, left, and Joe Klein get cosy last night. Photograph: William Wintercross/Time
Last night Time magazine star columnist Joe Klein, he of Primary Colors fame, participated in a Q&A at London's Charlotte Street Hotel about the US presidential election with Time International editor Michael Elliott. Klein, covering his ninth campaign, said the outcome of the contest between Barack Obama and John McCain might not be determined by the division between Democrat or Republican voters, but rather the division between young and old voters. The audience included Baroness Amos, Angus Deayton, Ann Treneman and Jill Sherman of the Times and Richard Preston of the Daily Telegraph. Asked to explain the importance of Tim Russert, the host of US network NBC's Meet the Press who died last week, to the American media and politics, Joe described him as "imagine Jeremy Paxman, but less smug, and working class".
