The network that gave Tim Russert his start in life was called “The Seminar” by those who graduated from it.

No other foreign leader appreciated the importance of connections more than the late Benazir Bhutto.

The Pakistani opposition leader, assassinated Thursday in Rawalpindi, made regular trips to Washington, paid the D.C. lobbying firm Burson-Marsteller hundreds of thousands of dollars, and cultivated a long list of friends among American journalists and politicians.