An MSNBC executive has announced that Chris Matthews won't be running for Senator from Pennsylvania, having told the Hardball staff of his decision earlier today.
Polling had shown Matthews in a tight race against GOP incumbent Arlen Specter, but Specter is hardly out of the woods. There is a good-sized bench of elected Democrats in Pennsylvania -- and on top of that, Specter could very well face a tough challenge in the Republican primary like he did in 2004.
So is Chris Matthews really going to run for Senate from Pennsylvania? Two NBC execs have independently said that they don't believe so, and they think he's sticking around.
NBC News chief Steve Capus said Matthews isn't running: "Well, look, if he were running for office, he wouldn't be on TV."
Meanwhile, MSNBC president Phil Griffin cast doubt on the idea, too. "I've talked to Chris. I think he's going to be here for a long time," Griffin said. "I want him to be here for a long time."
Yet another poll is suggesting that Chris Matthews could have a real shot at being elected to the U.S. Senate from Pennsylvania, if he decides against renewing his contract at MSNBC and in favor of mounting a campaign.
The numbers from Research 2000: Matthews is in a near-tie with GOP Sen. Arlen Specter, with Specter at 45% and Matthews at 44%. In a three-way Democratic primary with Reps. Patrick Murphy and Allyson Shwartz, it's Matthews 24%, Murphy 19%, Schwartz 15%, with "undecided" leading the race at 42%.
This internal might surprise people: Against his lesser-known potential opponents in the Democratic primary, Matthews currently has a plurality among women voters, and is doing better with them than men, though obviously it's hard to draw any solid conclusions when the undecideds are this high.
Here's another number that should seriously worry Specter: He's under 50% in the Republican primary, with 43% against 2004 primary opponent Pat Toomey's 28%. Specter just barely won his 2004 primary 51%-49%, and could be in for another dogfight if Toomey or another conservative challenger mounts a bid -- and if he were to lose his primary, a Democratic pickup would become very likely.
A previous Rasmussen poll showed Matthews only three points down against Specter.
Obama Briefed On Mumbai By Condoleezza Rice
President-elect Obama spoke by phone yesterday with Secretary Rice to get an update on the Mumbai situation, an Obama aide says. He also received an intelligence briefing on the attacks and is getting regular updates from the State Department Ops Center and the National Counter Terrorism Center.
No Public Events For Obama Today
Here's his Thanksgiving message:
Congressional Leaders Aiming To Have Big Initiatives Ready When Obama Takes Office
Dem leaders in Congress are vowing to have economic, spending and health care legislation waiting on Obama's desk when he enters the Oval Office for the first time as President. Top Obama economic adviser Jason Furman met with fiscally conservative Blue Dog Dems to persuade them that the Obama team views fiscal responsibility as a core goal, a hint that Obama advisers may recognize the potential for opposition from those Dems to their more ambitious and expensive economic rescue initiatives.
Gates And Obama Have Common Ground On Defense Issues
The New York Times reports that Barack Obama and his Defense Secretary, Robert Gates, have more common ground on defense questions than one might think: Gates has argued internally for the closing of Guantanamo Bay and is more inclined towards troop reductions than some of his colleagues. Indeed, he is already looking with senior commanders at how significant reductions can be achieved next year, the paper says.
GOP Incumbent Leads In Georgia Senate Race
A new Research 2000 poll shows GOP incumbent Senator Saxby Chambliss leading Dem challenger Jim Martin among likely voters, 52%-46%. As Taegan Goddard notes, the key finding of the poll is that "the likely-voter model for the runoff election will be substantially different from the turnout model for the November election" and that many black voters who supported Obama will "stay home for the runoff."
Chris Matthews' Run For Senate In Pennsylvania Inches Forward
This week he met with Democrats in the state to discuss his plan to try and knock off GOP Senator Arlen Specter, who is rated by The Cook Political Report as one of the four most vulnerable Senators up for re-election in 2010. If he runs, who would replace "thrill up my leg" Matthews as MSNBC's resident Obama hagiographer?
Could Chris Matthews have a real shot if he goes through with running for Senate in Pennsylvania against GOP Senator Arlen Specter? The answer, according to a new poll of the 2010 Senate race -- we already have one nearly a year in advance of the race really beginning in earnest -- is that he is currently running behind, but might just have a chance.
The new numbers from Public Policy Polling (D): Specter 40%, Matthews 27%, and a very high 33% undecided.
The internals have good news and bad news for both candidates. Specter is below 50%, a bad place for an incumbent, but he's grabbing 30% of Democrats and a 41%-28% plurality among independents, indicating that he's able to draw some crossover support like he usually has in his previous races. If he can solidify the 32% of undecided GOP voters, he would basically have it made.
The good news for Matthews is that 47% of voters age 18-29 and 43% of voters age 30-45 are undecided, and those groups both went big for Barack Obama in this past election. Also, 44% of black voters say they're undecided, and 25% are for Specter -- but if they break big for Matthews as the Dem candidate, he could quickly make up some ground.
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) has developed an intriguing habit amid her efforts to deal with the fallout over her McCarthyesque rant on Hardball last week.
In mainstream public forums, she either tries retract the things she said or denies she said them. But then she turns around and goes on right-wing media outlets, where she repeats various versions of the original whacked-out McCarthyite stuff in order to gin up winger support and money.
This kind of thing might have been doable as recently as five or six years ago. But these days, it's a bit tougher to get away with, what with little innovations like YouTube and The Google.
Check out our examples, after the jump.
Here's tonight's run-down on the Congressional races:
Bachmann Doubles Down On Obama = Anti-America
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) has dug in further on her position that Barack Obama is against America. Bachmann appeared today on the Hugh Hewitt radio show, and had this to say: "And so, he [Chris Matthews] was using the word "Anti-American" and I told Chris, what I question are Barack Obama's views. Because Barack Obama's views are against America." And here's what she said on the Mike Gallagher show: "What are Barack Obama's policies? Are they for America, or will they be against traditional American ideals and values?"
House GOP List Sees Double-Digit Losses
U.S. News has obtained the NRCC's internal "Death List" of seats they consider to be probably lost to the Democrats. Ten seats are listed as "likely gone," another nine are tagged as "leaning Democratic," and another 22 are "pure toss-up." It's unknown whether this list was drafted before or after the party cut off support for Michele Bachmann.
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), whose re-election has been put in serious danger thanks to her McCarthyist rant on Hardball -- not to mention her ham-fisted attempts at denying she ever said it -- is now admitting that she misspoke.
But it gets even better: Bachmann is blaming Chris Matthews for her gaffe, telling a Rotary Club event in her district yesterday that she had never seen Hardball and should have avoided the trap Matthews laid for her:
"When I was on Hardball with Chris Matthews last week, I do believe firmly that a trap was laid, but I stepped into it," Bachmann said. "And I made a misstatement, and I made a comment that I would take back."
Oddly enough, Bachmann admitted to misspeaking, but still said that she did not question Barack Obama's patriotism -- not that she didn't mean to question his patriotism, but that she didn't do it.
National Republicans are feeling very frustrated with Bachmann right now, worried that her public buffoonery could end up costing them a seat that they barely had to worry at all about even one week ago.
On Fox News just now, Howard Wolfson unleashed a broad attack on MSNBC and its top on-air personalities, slamming the network's coverage of Bill and Hillary, hitting back at Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann for using his work for Fox to question his Democratic credentials, and blasting MSNBC as having been "taken over" by "antics."
The broadside from Wolfson, who has until now mostly refrained from publicly critiquing MSNBC despite months of deep unhappiness within Hillaryland about the network's coverage of her, is a declaration of open war against MSNBC and two of its most visible political commentators that likely will only escalate from here.
"I'm not gonna take any lectures on how to be a good Democrat from two people who spent the last two years relentlessly attacking Bill and Hillary Clinton everyday," Wolfson said on the air moments ago, when asked by the Fox anchor to respond to some criticism of Wolfson on MSNBC yesterday.
Wolfson's decision to unload on MSNBC was triggered by some particularly barbed comments about Wolfson from Olbermann and Matthews yesterday. Matthews slammed Wolfson as Fox's "little toy soldier," while Olbermann joked that Wolfson is Fox's "Tokyo Rose."
"I think it's unfortunate that a news organization with a great tradition like NBC has been taken over by those kind of antics," Wolfson said.
Shortly afterward, he added, "Nobody has spent more time over the last two years attacking Democrats than Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews, and I'm just not going to get lectured on how to be a good Democrat from them."
In a brief interview with me, Wolfson said he decided he couldn't let such comments go unanswered anymore.
"I've let previous comments like this pass," Wolfson said, "and I wasn't gonna stand for it anymore. I've spent my entire adult life working for Democratic causes and candidates and I'm not gonna have my credentials challenged."
As I reported some months ago, Wolfson was one of several top Hillary advisers who privately complained to MSNBC brass about the on-air treatment of Hillary, but unlike some other top Hillary supporters didn't make his gripes with the network publicly known. No longer.
Fox News has been publicly feuding with MSNBC, and in a topsy-turvy twist, Wolfson, a lifelong and loyal Democrat, has now lobbed a heavy bomb -- from Fox's side, though it was on his own behalf.
Late Update: Here's video...
If you've been watching cable news today, you've seen pundit after pundit hyping the division between the Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. But the prize for desperate pimping of the Dem-division meme goes to Chris Matthews, who literally asked a Hillary-land insider to reveal her secret scheme for "restoration of the Clinton presidency."
Matthews, who was grilling longtime Hillary aide Lisa Caputo, actually asked:
"What is the current Clinton plan to regain the White House for the family? I mean, if Barack Obama wins this general election, he will no doubt be renominated by the Democratic party in four years -- how can the Clintons get back the White House if Barack does win?"
Caputo was so taken aback by the question that she got flummoxed on the air and laughed: "Oh Chris, how can you ask that question, for God's sake?"
A deflated Matthews rejoined: "So there's no more plan for a Clinton restoration, of a Clinton presidency? I'm serious. Why are you laughing?"
So many reasons, Chris, so many reasons. . .
The Michelle rollout continues with this new video, just blasted out to supporters by the Obama campaign, of Michelle prepping backstage for her big speech and giving her little girls tongue-in-cheek advice to come out and praise her performance. . .
The vid underscores two of Michelle's goals here tonight: To soften her and make her a more mainstream figure, and to deflect attacks on the Obamas as intoxicated with their "celebrity." The "celeb" sneer ads, and the criticism of Michelle's claim that she's proud of her country for the first time, are both all about painting the Obamas as too puffed up for their own good, and here Michelle's nervousness and mock advice to her kids shows her modest and reserved side.
As for the need to soften Michelle, earlier tonight Rev. Eugene Rivers was on Hardball with Chris Matthews and really drove home that imperative. "They're the Huxtables!" he told Matthews, "What could be more American than the Huxtables?"
In my memory, Claire Huxtable wasn't the softest of characters. Still, softening is clearly the goal here, as is evidenced by Michelle's cuddling with her children and effeminately describing the stage as "full of color and light."
The McCain campaign today effectively endorsed the tactic used in an ad Swift-Boating Obama for his ties to former Weatherman William Ayers -- but four months ago McCain unequivocally pledged to join the Democratic nominee in condemning such attacks during the general election.
McCain made the promise to Chris Matthews during MSNBC's so-called "College Tour" in mid-April, during which each candidate was quizzed at length before an audience of college kids...
McCain was asked by Matthews whether he would "sit down with the Democratic nominee" and "agree there will be no outside attacks." Matthews further asked McCain directly whether he would "agree up front" to "condemn any attack like a swift boating" as the nominee.
"Would you do that?" Matthews asked.
"I would love to do that," McCain replied, to loud applause.
It gets better. McCain went on to suggest that calling on such groups to stop the attacks basically works.
Hmmm. This, from Chris Matthews, might be the most comically awful Obama/Osama scrambling we've seen this cycle...
Said Matthews: "We had a recording come out of the Obama headquarters -- not Obama, I'm sorry...Bin Laden, Bin Laden -- it came out of Bin Laden's headquarters over there in Pakistan..."
Hoo boy. Here's the thing about this. The man made a mistake. And I have mixed feelings about jumping on this. Matthews and many other reporters and commentators -- us at TPM included, obviously -- write or say the words Obama and Osama multiple times a day. And we all dread being the one to make this mistake.
But, look, one of the realities of this campaign is that there is a tacit, and not so tacit, effort underway to sow doubts about Obama with false suggestions that he's got a secret Muslim past or even terrorist sympathies. So the bottom line is that you're going to take a hit if you botch this. It's just an occupational hazard -- a minor thing to have to deal with in exchange for the privilege of covering an absolutely thrilling and historic presidential race.
And, man, that was a real stinker, Chris.
You often hear Hillaryland insiders grousing about MSNBC's coverage of the presidential race. They gripe that MSNBC is more unfair to Hillary than even Fox, and that MSNBC has gone to great lengths to boost Obama and damage Hillary.
Last night, MSNBC's Chris Matthews was asked to respond to this charge during a forum held by the Institute of Politics. The Harvard Crimson has this intriguing nugget:
When asked by another audience member how he would respond to the claim that MSNBC officially supports Obama, Matthews responded with typical Hardball wit, "Well, it's not official."
( Via Michael Calderone.)
Updated below.
As I've noted here before, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann has a bizarre tendency to listen to the substance of criticism against him. Even more strange, considering that he's a top-shelf media star, is the fact that he apologizes for his conduct when he's wrong.
Today Olbermann apologized in response to criticism of a crack he made the other night about Hillary.
The barb in question came in a discussion with a guest about the fact that the super-delegates were going to have to resolve the Dem primary. Olbermann said: "Right. Somebody who can take her into a room and only he comes out."
This line drew some very sharp criticism from The Huffington Post's Rachel Sklar, who noted acidly that Olberman could "only mean one thing: Beating the crap out of Hillary Clinton, to the point where she is physically incapable of of getting up and walking out."
Which prompted Olbermann to send Sklar an apology:
It is a metaphor. I apologize: the generic "he" gender could imply something untoward. It should've been "only the other comes out -- from a political point of view." You could've called for reaction first if your main motive had merely been criticism.
Not to quibble with the great KO, but does he really call people for reaction before pillorying them as "The Worst Person In The World"?
The larger context here, obviously, is the hostility that MSNBC has shown towards Hillary for months and months now. Recall that David Shuster apologized for his "pimp" comment about Chelsea and that Chris Matthews apologized for effectively saying that Hillary would be cleaning toilets in a Dunkin' Donuts if it weren't for Bill.
And now Keith has apologized for suggesting that a burly super-del should manhandle Hillary into unconsciousness. Seems like the boys over at MSNBC have done a lot of apologizing to Hillary of late.
Late Update: A bunch of people have pointed out that I was wrong to say that Olbermann is responsive to criticism and admits it when he's wrong. Let me clarify this. I'm not talking about -- or defending -- Olbermann's night-to-night opinions here or saying that he's right on a nightly basis. I'm not saying that he's responsive to criticism of his nightly opinions.
I'm simply saying that in cases where he's been criticized for straying into particularly egregious journalistic conduct, as opposed to when he's merely criticized for spewing wrong opinions, he's been more willing to admit wrongdoing than some other top-shelf media stars have been.
I'm talking about episodes such as the above, where he suggested that perhaps a super-del should leave Hillary unconscious, or another recent one where he inadvertently had a guest on his show to talk about the presidential race despite the fact that he'd published some ridiculous anti-Edwards diatribes only days before. In cases such as these he's been willing to admit wrongdoing in a way some other media stars haven't been. That was the sole point here.
Time magazine's Karen Tumulty interviews prominent Hillary backer and Fox News fan Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania, and finds him in a particularly feisty mood about the press' coverage of Hillary and Obama...
In a recent appearance on Fox News -- not exactly considered friendly territory for the Democrats -- he congratulated the network for having done "the fairest job [and] remained the most objective of all the cable networks." In an interview with me, the governor was again in media-critic mode. "It took Saturday Night Live to bring some fairness to this election," Rendell said, referring to the show's now famous skit lampooning the media's crush on Obama. "It's stunning. Does Keith Olbermann get checks from the Obama campaign?"
Relatedly, is it just me, or has the tone of MSNBC and NBC towards Hillary changed of late? I reported here recently that top Hillary advisers had lodged repeated behind-the-scenes complaints about Chris Matthews, and the Hillary campaign publicly went to war with MSNBC over the network's protracted and palpable hostility towards her and its rather generous coverage of Obama.
Is the pressure working? The other day, NBC's Andrea Mitchell ran a soft-focus piece on Hillary's girl-hood, and there's been a more Hillary-friendly feel on the network in recent days. It certainly feels like the network's trying to make nice with Camp Hillary now.
It isn't every day that the Hillary camp points to something on Chris Matthews' show to make a point, but today the campaign is pushing this video like crazy -- it shows a key Obama supporter in Texas totally flummoxed when asked if he can name a single legislative accomplishment by the Illinois Senator...
It is indeed a brutal moment, particularly when Matthews says of the hapless fellow's inability to name anything, "that's a problem, isn't it?"
Hillary advisers are really, really upset about Chris Matthews, and it turns out that they've repeatedly made their grievances directly known to MSNBC.
Proving, once again, that the controversy over the "pimped out" comment was never really about David Shuster. It was all about Chris.
In the wake of the news that Hillary will debate on NBC later this month, an MSNBC spokesperson confirms that Shuster won't be fired and will return to the network.
My take: As dumb and crude as Shuster's remark was, in the end this mainly was all about Chris Matthews.
This is really something. The Hillary campaign has just gone to war with MSNBC, dispatching a top Hillary adviser to launch a lacerating attack on the network on a conference call with reporters moments ago.
On the call, top Hillary adviser Howard Wolfson suggested that there's a "pattern" of reprehensible comments by MSNBC personalities, and said outright that the Hillary campaign could no longer "envision a scenario where we would debate on that network given the comments that were made and have been made."
Wolfson made the comments in response to a question about a now-notorious comment by MSNBC's David Shustser, in which he asked if Chelsea's campaigning on her mom's behalf meant she was being "pimped" by the Hillary campaign...
Though Shuster apologized this morning, the Hillary campaign has clearly decided to seize upon the opportunity to launch a major attack on the network. A few weeks ago Chris Matthews publicly apologized to Hillary after suggesting that her whole Senate career and presidential candidacy was made possible only because of Bill's shenanigans in the White House.
Asked about Shuster's "pimp" comment, Wolfson denounced the comment as "disgusting" and "beneath contempt," adding: "It's the kind of thing that should never be said on a national news network."
Then Wolsfon added: "You have to question whether or not there is a pattern here on the part of the network." He added: "Is this part of a pattern? I don't know, but [it's] beneath contempt."
Then, unbidden, he concluded: "I'll say this. We've done a number of debates on that network...I at this point can't envision a scenario where we would debate on that network given the comments that were made and have been made."
That he would effectively rule out future debate appearances for the time being strongly suggests that the Hillary campaign discussed this in some detail beforehand and decided to launch this broadside against the network. It also suggests that the Hillary camp sees the potential for political gain in drawing media attention to negative and sexist comments made on MSNBC about her and her daughter.
More soon.
Late Update: We have lots more coverage of MSNBC and other news orgs' treatment of the race right here at The Horse's Mouth, our blog about political coverage.
MoveOn gives us advance word on how much they've raised for Obama since midday yesterday: $357,000, with contributions still coming in.
"The Obam-a-mentum fundraiser has been our biggest fundraiser yet this year," MoveOn executive director Eli Pariser will say in a statement soon to go out to reporters. "Our members have not finished giving and none of the contributions through our site have been added yet to the Obama campaign fundraising totals. We are thrilled we'll be able to add to Senator Obama's big day."
It's kind of a sign of the times that hundreds of thousands in a single day probably won't surprise a lot of people, given the current astronomical sums we're seeing. But it is significant that MoveOn will keep chugging as a financial engine for Obama. And keep in mind that the MoveOn money is in addition to, not part of, the more than $7 million that the Obama camp raised since Super Tuesday.
Separately on the fundraising front, this is kind of amusing: Emily's List is now using, of all things, Chris Matthews' on-air buffoonery as a fundraising tool for Hillary. The Tweety Effect lives!
There was a very weird moment during tonight's GOP debate. It started when Tim Russert, inanely, asked Mitt Romney: "How would you run against Hillary and Bill Clinton in November?"
And Romney answered: "I frankly can't wait, because the idea of Bill Clinton back in the White House with nothing to do, is something I just can't imagine. I can't imagine, the American people can't imagine."
Though multiple polls have shown that sizable majorities don't have a problem with this, you'd expect such an answer from a GOP candidate, obviously.
But then, after the debate was over, Chris Matthews just obsessed over Romney's answer. He kept repeating the line about Bill being in the White House with "nothing to do," again and again, with a truly odd grin on his face, as if it had profound significance. Deeply weird.
Here's the statement, just out from what's left of Fred Thompson's campaign:
"Today I have withdrawn my candidacy for President of the United States. I hope that my country and my party have benefited from our having made this effort. Jeri and I will always be grateful for the encouragement and friendship of so many wonderful people."
Guess that manly after-shave and those shoulders that you can land a Space Shuttle on didn't end up working out for him.
Late Update: It appears that I have my pundit man-love poetry scrambled. It was Mitt Romney, not Fred, who was praised by The Politico's Roger Simon for having "shoulders you could land a 737 on." Apologies for the mix-up.
It should also be noted that Fred is a man of many manly scents. Chris Matthews not only praised Fred's "sex appeal" based on his after-shave; he also enthused about the whiff of "cigar smoke" that apparently hovers around the former candidate.
Either way, we stand by our original assertion that the whiff of manliness that Matthews detected around Fred just didn't get him very far as a candidate.
