Time.com’s James Poniewozik writes about last night’s primary coverage. Though, he writes mostly about MSNBC…

People sometimes criticize pundits for behaving as if elections were all about them. But Chris Matthews of MSNBC had a special treat last night: he was told, on his own network, that last night’s upset decision in New Hampshire really was all about him. Air America’s Rachel Maddow told him that posters at Talking Points Memo were citing resentment of Matthews, by name, as a driving force in the vote for Hillary Clinton. “People feel that the media is piling on Clinton.”

Piling on? Where would they get that idea? Because analysts and writers had spent several days in a frenzy over Clinton’s “implosion,” saying that she might drop out of the race at any minute, that the money would dry up, that heads would roll, that she and her husband had fumbled her comeback attempt? Because they were convinced that Barack Obama would win big–double digits? triple digits?–and an NBC reporter said that it was hard to be objective about him? Did that seem like piling on?

Well, last night, whether they were voting for Hillary or against Matthews, the voters left the pundits with a lot more to chew over and overreact to all over again. Was it, as CNN’s Soledad O’Brien called it, Clinton’s “almost crying”? Did the media push sympathies to Clinton? Did the blowout predictions drive independents to McCain? Did New Hampshirites refuse to let Iowa call the shots for them? Did voters lie to pollsters about their willingness to vote for a black man?

MAKEUP!

Update: This thing is going viral. The Huffington Post, Gawker, and Soup Cans have all picked up on it. Though only the Huffington Post properly attributed the video to me.

Broadcasting & Cable’s Marisa Guthrie blogs about last night’s MSNBC “comedy moment”…

Certainly there is a place for satire and humor in political discourse.

But at times Williams and Russert looked like chagrined parents who had lost control of the kids on the long car ride.

Perhaps the gang should huddle and decide which image they wish to portray – that of real journalists or Daily Show knock-offs.

Meanwhile, Slate’s Jack Shafer beats up on CNN for its incessent plugging of its political team last night…
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Radio Online notes that Bernadette Duncan has been named the EP of Lou Dobbs’ upcoming radio program…

An emailer forwarded me a promo for the Weather Channel featuring former CNN and MSNBC anchor Natalie Allen. Allen now hosts a program called “Forecast Earth” which airs Saturdays at 5pm ET…

CNN put out a set of charts noting its ratings win last night…
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CNN won the night in Total Viewers and The Demo. FNC dominated in the morning shows in both categories. MSNBC beat FNC at 11pm in both categories.

Daily Live+SD Ratings for January 8, 2008

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CNN will air a one hour special “America Votes 2008″ tonight at 8pm. The Wolf Blitzer hosted special will be from CNN’s Election Center in New York. CNN Executive Producer Jeff Kepnes will produce tonight’s special.

Joining Blitzer to analyze last night’s New Hampshire election results, and to discuss the upcoming political contests in pivotal states, will be CNN contributor Carl Bernstein, senior political analyst Gloria Borger and legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin. CNN correspondent Ted Rowlands will report from Nevada, where voters will soon caucus in the country’s first western contest. The special will dig deep into the political issues and strategy that will be at play up through the CNN/Congressional Black Caucus Institute Democratic primary debate in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina on Monday, January 21.

Paul Begala writes about the FNC report that said that he was joining the Hillary Clinton campaign. The stunning part of the story though is the email exchange between Begala and Major Garrett, which Begala includes in his story. Including email exchanges in a story when the other side doesn’t know you’re going to do it (and I assume that is the case here) is always a dicey proposition.

Update: Garrett addressed this yesterday on his blog…

The sourcing on the story is impeccable and its been confirmed through other, external sources very close to the Clinton campaign. The story has always said this is a matter that has to be finalized in a shake-down meeting tomorrow after what is expected to be a bruising Clinton loss here in New Hampshire.

The final decision is due tomorrow but the current intention, as The Bourbon Room first reported, is to bring Begala and Clinton on board as day-to-day strategists on a volunteer basis.

One of the realities of political coverage, is denials fly until the press release is out. There’s no press release on this. It is in development and that’s always the way The Bourbon Room has reported it.

NewsBusters chronicles a slip up in a Nancy Grace TV ad that put Mitch McConnell on the screen instead of Larry Craig. (via TVNewser)

Amazingly, the esteemed Senator from Kentucky was sandwiched between shots of convicted Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick, OJ Simpson, and other high-profile crime figures of 2007.

NewsBusters has been informed that after a number of CNN producers were sent our article on this subject, a senior CNN official contacted McConnell’s office to apologize for the incident.

Tonight on Cavuto, FBN’s Neil Cavuto will be the first to interview Republican Presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani from Melbourne, Florida tonight at 6pm ET following the unveiling of his tax plan this afternoon. Cavuto will then interview former Clinton Secretary of State Madeleine Albright regarding Hillary Clinton’s unexpected win last night in the New Hampshire primary and on Albright’s new book.

The Politico’s Michael Calderone writes about some of last night’s coverage…

Either way you sliced it, the media said, this was not Bill Clinton in 1992: Hillary was no comeback kid.

However, the word “comeback” seemed to be on everyone’s lips Tuesday night, perhaps used more times than candidates uttered “change” in last weekend’s debates.

The word was first bestowed upon McCain, and a few hours later, to Clinton.

Brit Hume said New Hampshire made McCain the “comeback kid tonight for sure” when Fox News first called the election for him, at 8:10 pm.

But one of the oddest moments of the night came during a panel on MSNBC, after McCain’s victory speech, in which the Arizona senator rambled on a bit, looking down at the podium as he read.

First MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough mocked McCain, followed by the rest of his panel.

As does The Boston Globe’s Joanna Weiss…
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The New York Observer’s Felix Gillette writes about Chris Matthews and coverage of Rudy Giuliani…

On Thursday, Jan. 3, the night of the Iowa caucuses, Chris Matthews interviewed Rudy Giuliani live on MSNBC. “I noticed working with a lot of reporters, even mild-mannered reporters from New York,” observed Mr. Matthews, “they don’t like you much.”

That observation set up the question that Mr. Matthews wanted to explore: “Are you being screwed by the press?” he asked.

Was he? Mr. Giuliani demurred to his host, who proceeded to make the case.

As he had a few weeks earlier on his MSNBC show Hardball, Mr. Matthews trotted out Exhibit A—an article that appeared on Nov. 29 in The New York Times, which, as Mr. Matthews put it, was about how Mr. Giuliani “had failed to give an accurate accounting as mayor of the cost of your security detail when you went off to visit your now wife.” And Exhibit B—a subsequent piece in The Times on Dec. 20, which, Mr. Matthews suggested, exonerated Mr. Giuliani but had been buried deep in the paper.
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Rudy Giuliani will appear on Bloomberg’s Money and Politics with Peter Cook tonight at 9pm ET. Giuliani will be discussing his campaign and his new tax plan…

Eat The Press’ Rachel Sklar caught up with American Morning’s John Roberts and Kiran Chetry yesterday after their show was over and has some self-shot video of the experience…

Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton made the rounds of the cable news networks this morning. Both appeared on FNC’s Fox and Friends and CNN’s American Morning. I saw Obama on Morning Joe as well but don’t know if Clinton appeared. Johnny Dollar has the video of the Obama interview. CNN’s Clinton and Obama videos can be accessed here. I looked on MSNBC.com for the Obama footage from MSNBC but can’t find it.

The Seattle Times has a news service report on CNN’s decision to call last night’s race for Hillary Clinton, and when to do so…

Shortly after 10:30 p.m. EST Tuesday, John King, the chief national correspondent for CNN, was telling viewers how the network already would have declared Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton the winner of the New Hampshire primary under normal circumstances, and how these were anything but.

But before King was done, CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer broke in to report that The Associated Press had called the race for Clinton but that CNN still was not ready to do so.

Perhaps the network — along with other outlets — could be forgiven for being gun-shy. The results went against the predictions of an overwhelming victory for Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, and an inevitable campaign shake-up for a wounded Clinton.

With raw memories of past miscalls, CNN President Jonathan Klein said he instructed his producers to avoid calling the race too soon, even as he gave them the go-ahead to share the AP projection that Clinton had won.

“The only heat I was applying was that we be positive that we’re correct,” Klein said, “not that we be first.”

Anderson Cooper has been getting his name in the press a lot the past couple of days. But not for anything he’s done at CNN recently. But because ABC is bringing back “The Mole”, without Cooper this time obviously…

Vegas Magazine’s Steve Friess has a gushing profile of CNBC’s Maria Bartiromo. (sub req. to read the whole article)

One of the sexiest women in the television news business is having an especially good week, and it’s only Tuesday. She has managed to persuade a triumvirate of hard-to-get stars to sit down with her for important exclusives on the biggest issue of the day, and she is very, very excited.

Whom could we mean? Maybe it’s Diane Sawyer, having gotten Britney, K-Fed and Shar to talk about child custody? Or perhaps it could be ESPN’s Erin Andrews visiting with Barry Bonds, Floyd Landis and Marion Jones about performance-enhancing drugs? Naw. It’s Maria Bartiromo, and her “gets” are actually really, really important.

“I spoke to Hank Paulson, Richard Syron and Angelo Mozilo,” she gushes. “So I got to the trio of the housing big hitters.” Um, who and what? If you don’t know, that’s okay. They’re only three of the most significant economic leaders, and their thoughts on the burgeoning housing-market crisis are heavily sought and sparingly dispensed.

And the fact that a 40-year-old Italian from Brooklyn with supple lips and glowing hazel eyes can get this much of a buzz from chatting up a group of wrinkly old guys ought to reassure us that the Republic is, indeed, strong. The complex minutiae of economics and government would seem beyond most of our comprehensions or curiosities, but then there’s Bartiromo on CNBC’s Closing Bell with Maria Bartiromo every day and in innumerable other venues making it all seem relatable and — dare we say it? — hip. After all, no less than the late Joey Ramone of The Ramones wrote a song about her in which he crooned, “Those eyes make everything okay/I watch her every day.”

I’ve been on the fence about writing this entry but like a thorn in my side, it’s not going to leave me alone until I deal with it. Watching the Iowa Caucuses and the run-up to the New Hampshire primary and all the Super Week coverage MSNBC has been doing this past week, I’ve come to the conclusion that, at least in daytime, MSNBC’s coverage, so far, has slipped a bit since 2004.

I can’t really pin it down to any one thing but a lot of little things. Taken seperately they don’t mean much but their sum total gives me reason for concern. Where to start? Well how about the wall to wall Joe and Mika tag team? Excepting today, they’ve been on the air for six hours at a time every day since Iowa. It’s too much. In the past, I’ve seen MSNBC pair the two after Morning Joe has been finished and it just doesn’t click for me. What works for them on Morning Joe, the wittisisms, sarcasm, eye rolls, and smirking, works against the duo when doing it in a hard news environment. Maybe if they had Willie Geist there to take the focus off it would make things easier to digest. But as it is, it’s overkill. How many times did they replay the Clinton interview today? Three times? Four? More? I lost count. That kind of blatant repitition suggests to me that either they’re a) milking it, or b) short of ideas on what else to fill the airtime.
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