Who is Harvey Randall from Lucifer's Hammer and what is their importance?

Harvey Randall is a documentary film maker who focuses on the comet as the subject for one of his projects. Harvey, like Senator Jellison, takes the public stand that the comet is going to miss the Earth. Privately, he buys roasts to make into jerky, vitamins and pepper that would make good trade goods, and fills the family pool with fresh water without chlorine - all just in case the comet does strike. He later berates himself because he didn't stay at home when the comet struck, leaving his wife alone to die at the hands of thieves.