Anyone watching Chris Matthews, host of MSNBC’s Hardball, senses his passion for politics.
Now comes word that the irrepressible TV host may be considering an electoral bid himself. The prospect of a Matthews run for the Pennsylvania Senate seat now held by Arlen Specter was discussed last week at a dinner of Democratic fund-raisers, according to the New York Times.
Matthews attended the dinner as a guest of Robert Wolf, a major fundraiser for Barack Obama and president of UBS Investment Bank. Others at the Four Seasons dinner included Marc Lasry, a co-founder of the Avenue Capital Group; Leo Corbett a top executive at EMI Music Publishing, James Torrey, president of the hedge fund Torrey Associates and Ned Lamont, who made an unsuccessful Senate run in 2006 against Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut.
“Bob is a wonderful guy and he told me we were going to talk about the political year and business and nothing about any election prospects,” Matthews told the Times, insisting he remains committed to his shows which have been riding the wave of interest in the presidential elections.
As a commentator, he said he could not have any direct involvement in politics. His contract with MSNBC is up in June, however, and a run for the Pennsylvania seat would not happen until 2010.
Wolf told the Times that the Pennsylvania race was “on the periphery of the meeting.”
Matthews dates his interest in politics to the hours he spent at the side of his grandfather, Charles Patrick Shields, a Democratic committeeman from North Philadelphia. As a young man, he wrote speeches for Jimmy Carter, was a top advisor to the late House speaker Tip O’Neill and ran unsuccessfully for Congress himself in his native Philadelphia before becoming a columnist for the San Francisco Examiner.
One of his brothers, Jim Matthews, is the Republican chairman of the board of commissioners in Montgomery County, Pa.
How driving is his interest in elected office? Much may depend on the intense politics playing out inside MSNBC right now. With David Gregory and Rachel Maddow among its rising stars and rival Keith Olbermann in ascendancy, Matthews’ post-election prospects at the cable network are unclear.
Running for office may not only fulfill a long-time dream, but may seem a safer bet.
Click here to sign up for the Muckety Newsletter
0 Comments
There are no comments yet, be the first by filling in the form below.
Leave a Comment