Why a Jim McKay editorial today and not one about Tim Russert?

Because editorial pages generally are completed a couple of days in advance, particularly those prepared for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.

Our Russert tribute will be on Wednesday's editorial page.

Why are these pages done so far ahead of publication? Because they're almost always about non-deadline topics. And by completing "advance pages" prior to the day before publication, it clears the production decks for "live" deadline pages.

Actually, it's also something of an old habit, dating back to the pre-computer days. The need for "advance pages" is less in the computer era.