Paul Bedard’s Washington Whispers notes that Horton’s Kids is having its 2nd annual silent auction. Among the auction items is a set of Power Lunches with journalists. Among this year’s participants are MSNBC’s Tucker Carlson and Norah O’Donnell, FNC’s Bret Baier, and CNN’s Suzanne Malveaux.

MSNBC took it on the chin yesterday coming in last in both the Total Day and Primetime Demos in the Live ratings.

Cable News Daily Ratings for February 27, 2007

P2+ Total Day
FNC – 943,000 viewers
CNN – 455,000 viewers
MSNBC – 296,000 viewers
CNBC – 332,000 viewers
HLN – 272,000 viewers

P2+ Prime Time
FNC – 1,880,000 viewers
CNN – 697,000 viewers
MSNBC – 462,000 viewers
CNBC – 443,000 viewers
HLN – 430,000 viewers

25-54 Total Day
FNC – 282,000 viewers
CNN – 143,000 viewers
MSNBC – 113,000 viewers
CNBC – 125,000 viewers
HLN – 129,000 viewers

25-54 Prime Time
FNC – 489,000 viewers
CNN – 210,000 viewers
MSNBC – 149,000 viewers
CNBC – 177,000 viewers
HLN – 156,000 viewers

Morning programs P2+ (25-54)
FOX & Friends – 795,000 viewers (355,000)
American Morning – 336,000 viewers (127,000)
Imus in the Morning– 356,000 viewers (145,000)
Robin & Co. – 238,000 viewers (133,000)
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This afternoon on the The Situation Room, Wolf Blitzer talked with retired U.S. Army Colonel Pat Lang, former chief of Middle East intelligence at the Pentagon, about talk of U.S. government plans for a strike against Iran. Transcript follows….

WOLF BLITZER, HOST: The Bush administration has kept up a steady drumbeat of warnings about Iran’s nuclear programs and lately its malicious meddling, administration officials insist, inside Iraq.

Now, with two U.S. aircraft carrier battle groups in the region, is there a growing chance the United States could find itself at war with Iran? Joining us now, retired U.S. Army Colonel Pat Lang, former chief of Middle East intelligence at the Pentagon.

Pat, thanks for coming in.

COL. PATRICK LANG, U.S. ARMY (RET.): My pleasure.

BLITZER: Take us behind the scenes right now, all of the saber rattling. The leaks we’re also seeing — the Seymour Hersh article in “The New Yorker” magazine.

What’s going on, in your assessment, behind the scenes?

LANG: Well, a lot of this, of course, is intended to reach the ears of the Iranians. You know, it’s — it’s quite a good idea, in a lot of ways, to make sure the Iranians know the United States is very serious about the concerns about them and if they aren’t careful, they could end up in big trouble with us.
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Mediaweek’s Anthony Crupi writes about the February Numbers…

Fox News Channel moved into fifth place on the ad-supported cable charts, thanks to a news cycle that was a veritable Janus head of celebrity pathos and farcical misbehavior. Between the death of Anna Nicole Smith and its aftermath, the revolving-door rehab regimen of Britney Spears and the pathological misadventures of a diaper-clad Astronut, FNC had viewers pouring in throughout the month, averaging 1.61 million in prime, an increase of 9 percent year-over–year. FNC also pumped up its take of the crucial A25-54 demo by 20 percent (413,000), while boasting nine of the top 10 cable news shows and 14 of the top 20.

February was kind to all of the cable news nets, which rode the Blondes in Crisis wave––not to mention the ongoing Iraq war crisis and the Clinton/Obama skirmish––to across-the-board ratings increases. Through Feb. 25, CNN grew its total audience by 19 percent to 783,000, while raising its news demo by 29 percent (246,000). Meanwhile, MSNBC was up 33 percent in total viewers (475,000), and raised its standing among adults 25-54 by 25 percent (191,000). Headline News upped its audience by 22 percent, averaging 422,000 prime time viewers, while raising its share of the demo by 39 percent to 170,000, and CNBC soared 66 percent to 272,000, while elevating its A25-54 number by 44 percent (117,000).

CJR Daily’s Edward B. Colby questions CNBC allowing Maria Bartiromo interview former Citigroup Chairman and CEO Sanford Weill on Monday…

Bartiromo did nothing wrong in yesterday’s interview, and Weill no longer represents Citigroup. But the “exclusive” between the star anchor who is the public face of CNBC and the man who was the longtime public face of Citigroup breathes new life into the story, inviting it to linger. While Todd Thomson, one of Citigroup’s top execs, was canned (as the Wall Street Journal reported) after his “spending and friendship” with Bartiromo (”including improper use of the corporate jet — one case involving a trip from Asia with Ms. Bartiromo — and a decision to spend $5 million on a Sundance Channel program in which she would appear”) angered current Citigroup CEO Charles Prince, Bartiromo, who has been staunchly defended by CNBC, got off scot-free. CNBC has not mentioned the Bartiromo-Thomson connection on air, and as the New York Times reported, she continues to cover Citigroup.

This strikes us as a counterproductive strategy. Damage control demands that the accused quickly address the allegations as directly and thoroughly as possible. As it is, each time Bartiromo reports on Citigroup, rightly or wrongly, the knot of questions she has not answered become newly relevant.

Johnny Dollar has the audio from today’s Radio Factor where Bill O’Reilly talks about going out on the road and confronting candidates for the 2008 Presidency if they aren’t forthcoming with access or information…

I don’t know how old this is (it’s new to me anyway) but this is uh…well…I don’t know…

UPDATE: And this…

“FOX is Bringing Sexy Back!
with Martha MacCallum”

Wasn’t there an uproar over a CNN Paula Zahn ad which labeled her as sexy?

Here is the cable news program ranker for February…
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