Savannah Guthrie, NBC News Correspondent

By Michele Greppi

Background: After an early stint as a reporter at NBC-owned WRC-TV in Washington, D.C., Ms. Guthrie went to law school.

After practicing law for a while, she was hired in 2004 by Court TV to talk about the legal system. During two years as national trial correspondent, she covered the Michael Jackson child molestation case, the Boston clergy sex abuse scandal surrounding Father Paul Shanley and the sentencing of Martha Stewart in her insider-trading case. In 2006, Ms. Guthrie was named legal affairs correspondent in Washington, where her beat included Congress, the Supreme Court and high-profile stories that included the Lewis “Scooter” Libby case and Samuel A. Alito Jr.’s confirmation as Supreme Court justice. Since being hired as Washington-based correspondent by NBC News in 2007, she has reported for “Today,” “Nightly News” and MSNBC, where she even popped up recently anchoring a daytime hour.

Buzz: Possessed of navy blue eyes, a distinctive voice and a fresh air, Ms. Guthrie clearly is being groomed by NBC News, which assigned her to the presidential transition. Just what she’ll end up doing in the short term may be bound up in the long-awaited announcement of who will inherit the late Tim Russert’s seat on “Meet the Press.” Whatever she does, she’ll work hard at it. A trivia bonus: She once won a song-writing contest.