Marty Plissner

Marty Plissner was a journalist who served as political director of CBS News for more than 30 years. Over the course of his CBS career, from the early 1960s through his retirement in 1997, Plissner covered nine presidential elections, beginning with that of Lyndon Johnson in 1964.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, he graduated from Yale University after serving in the Navy during World War II. As a student, he worked for the Yale Daily News, and was a writer for ABC and NBC News and at radio stations in New York City before joining CBS.

Although he did not appear on camera, Plissner wielded tremendous influence over the content of CBS's political coverage. He also directed the stand-up reports and visual elements of the network's election coverage. During his tenure, he pioneered many techniques of covering campaigns and elections that are commonplace today, and is reputed to have coined the phrase, "Too close to call."

Plissner also wrote for various newspapers and in 1999 he published an acclaimed book about his field of expertise, The Control Room: How Television Calls the Shots in Presidential Elections.

Plissner died February 6, 2014. He was 87.