Chris Matthews For Senate? The Rumor Mill Is Up & Running
PhillyClout has heard a couple of interesting rumors about Chris Matthews from MSNBC's Hardball running for the U.S. Senate as a Democrat in 2010 against incumbent Republican Senator Arlen Specter. We ran those rumors by political consultant Neil Oxman this afternoon. First up: We hear Matthews is talking to Oxman about running the media for his campaign. We also hear Matthews is looking around for a teaching post out west in Pittsburgh.
Chris Matthews For Senate? The Rumor Mill Is Up & Running
Chris Brennan
PhillyClout has heard a couple of interesting rumors about Chris Matthews from MSNBC's Hardball running for the U.S. Senate as a Democrat in 2010 against incumbent Republican Senator Arlen Specter. We ran those rumors by political consultant Neil Oxman this afternoon. First up: We hear Matthews is talking to Oxman about running the media for his campaign. We also hear Matthews is looking around for a teaching post out west in Pittsburgh.
Oxman, who did the media for Mayor Nutter's campaign last year and for Joe Hoeffel's unsuccessful run against Specter in 2004, said Matthews has not hired anybody to run for anything yet. "If he runs, I hope to be involved," Oxman said. "I have not settled anything with him."
Oxman has been urging Matthews, a Philadelphia native who loves to talk about his hometown on television, to run for the Senate for years. "I know he's thinking about it," Oxman said. "That's all I can say. He's weighing all his options."
So what about that Pittsburgh teaching gig? The biography for Matthews posted on MSNBC.com notes that he was a visiting fellow at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, Institute of Politics and holds 16 honorary Ph.D.s. "He's talked about teaching someplace in Pennsylvania," Oxman said. "That's one of the places he's talked about."
Matthews better rethink any decision to run against Specter for two reasons: (1) He's too liberal for PA. He was on Tip O'Neill's staff and the liberal causes he espouses on Hardball will turn off voters statewide in two years; (2)it's an off-year election and Republicans will pick up seats, not lose them, as has always happened in the past.— 1republican
Comment removed.- Does anybody really care what he thinks?— amblereagles
Politics in America has gone from politicans who were actors (Reagan) to talking heads who are blowhards on TV (Matthews). Is it any wonder the rest of the world things our system is a joke.— bling- I have no problem with pundits running for office. I'm not such a fan of Chris Matthews.— Elle Dakey
- I'd love to see him run. He's tough, smart, frank, and proud of his Philly roots. Besides, wouldn't it be nice to see a talking head put his/her money where their mouth is?— tarik255
- He'll be perfect in the Senate, I can understand what he's saying about 10% of the time.— Ed_Tilton
It would be a welcome change.The apocalyptic cab ride from the airport to Center City via 26th St + 76 screams HELP US. Somebody has to do a better job whipping the city of Philadelphia into shape and putting this region on the map. Not blaming all of this areas trouble on Specter but you are getting left in the dust by NY and DC. Somebody in extremely important federal positions have failed this region over the past 30 years. Washington is just as old as Philly , do you see anything that resembles the crumbling Schuylkill? Their highways are immaculate, housing values 2x what metro Philaldephias are. I'm all for it. Go for it Chris Matthews.— argonne- Comment removed.
- Chris Matthews is a liberal...His show should be called Softball, not Hardball. He never asks tough questions for his democratic colleagues and lets them off of the hook. He worked as a staffer for the late speaker Tip O'Neill, a liberal as well. I also thought I heard him say that he worked for Jimmy Carter, the dumb peanut farmer.— Jes44
- Comment removed.
- Oh God, please no. Not Chris Matthews!— PennGuy86
- I'm okay with anybody running. The point of representative government is that any citizen can run for election. Whether I vote for him will depend on his policies/views versus those of the person he runs against.— DrexelDragonFan
- He's bright. He's forthright. He's not Rick Santorum. He's got this Republican's vote.— pete k.
- The the country is changing, but for the worse. People in Minnesota even considering a total idiot like Al Franken is beyond my comprehension!!! But after all what can you expect from a state that elected a phony wrestler governor. Those examples are only mild compared to Chris Matthews running for the US Senate. What a total joke. God help us from all these arrogamnt people on an ego trip!!!!!— jacksbrae
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David Gambacorta spent a small eternity writing about cops, drug dealers and serial killers. Now he’s writing about power and politics – which sometimes reminds him of the old crime beat. He joined the Daily News in 2005. And yes, he knows you’re not quite sure how to pronounce his last name. E-mail tips to gambacd@phillynews.com
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Jan Ransom, a native New Yorker, joined the Daily News in 2010 after graduating from Howard University. She has since written about the difficulty of filing police complaints, tax deadbeats and life after violent home invasions. She joined the Daily News City Hall Bureau in 2011 and has plunged headfirst into reporting on administration budget battles and City Council shenanigans. E-mail tips to ransomj@phillynews.com
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Sean Collins Walsh is from Bucks County and went to Northwestern University. He joined the Daily News copy desk in 2012 and now covers the Nutter administration. Before that, he interned at papers including The New York Times, The Dallas Morning News and The Seattle Times. E-mail tips to walshSE@phillynews.com
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