Small World: New CBS Political Director Married Former DNC Exec

TVNewser broke the news that acting CNN political director Molly Levinson has been named the new political director at CBS News. But he did not note that she's newly married to Joshua Wachs, a recent executive of the Democratic National Committee, as The New York Times noted in its Weddings & Celebrations pages on July 9:

The bridegroom, 34, was until February 2005 the chief operating officer of the Democratic National Committee in Washington. This month he is to become the vice president for community relations for the National Basketball Association in New York. He graduated from Oberlin College.

The love story revolves around CNN coverage of the Democrats:

In October 2003, Ms. Levinson, then a producer for "NewsNight with Aaron Brown" on CNN, had arrived in Phoenix to help arrange a debate between the Democratic candidates for the presidential nomination. There she met Jenny Backus, a Democratic political strategist who was then CNN's liaison to the Democratic National Committee. Ms. Backus told her she wanted to introduce her to her best friend, Josh Wachs, then the chief operating officer of the organization. But Ms. Levinson declined.

In May 2004, Ms. Levinson ran into Ms. Backus at the annual radio and television correspondents dinner in Washington. After an effusive exchange of greetings, Ms. Backus turned to a man standing nearby and said, "Josh Wachs, meet Molly Levinson."

Still nothing happened. But in June, Ms. Levinson moved from New York to Washington for a job in CNN's political unit. She sent out a mass e-mail message to her entire address book, announcing her new address.

Once again, Ms. Backus sprang into action, e-mailing both Mr. Wachs and Ms. Levinson, cajoling them, "You both have actually met before, but now you should do it for real." And the message added, "You both now live in the same building."

What followed was a dessert date, and then down the line, marriage. Levinson succeeds longtime CBS political vet Dotty Lynch, who had a more direct link to the Democrats -- she was a pollster for the DNC and Mondale-Ferraro in the 1980s.