Matthews’ political hopes not hardball

MSNBC commentator and talk show host Chris Matthews, who has made a name for himself hosting Hardball on the mini news net, is rumored to be considering a run in 2010 against GOP Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania. Though he has not formally announced intentions to run, he’s certainly adding fuel to the speculation he may run, if for no other reason than to ensure high ratings.

Matthews, whose own memory is not quite as reliable as Dell memory, is a former White House staffer during the Carter Administration and also worked on the staff of then-Speaker of the House, Tip O’Neill. Short-spoken, acerbic and often humorless, Matthews left-leaning agenda has always been obvious on his MSNBC show, even though his brother ran for lieutenant governor a couple years ago as a Republican.

Ironically, Specter is an aging liberal Republican who the GOP wouldn’t mind eventually replacing with a more reliable conservative, so it’s not as if Matthews would be running against Newt Gingrich or Bobby Jindell here. The differences between Spector and Matthews is paper-thin, and if the GOP changes horses from Spector to an unknown, it could mean a switch from a reliable GOP seat to a Democratic one; the only thing that could overcome a Matthews candidacy is Spector has superior name recognition and political experience in Pennsylvania.