Yep. On this morning's Meet the Press, Tom Daschle gave Russert a huge scoop.
But what did that hard-hitting, bulldog, millionaire pundit Tim Russert do?
Follow me down the rabbit hole for more. (And for more on the rabbit hole analogy go to Land of Enchantment's "Alice" diary).
Russert began his show this morning with:
MR. TIM RUSSERT: Our issues this Sunday: Last night Barack Obama bounces back and wins the Wyoming caucuses after Hillary Clinton's big victories Tuesday in Ohio and Texas. What now? For the Obama campaign, the former Senate majority leader, Tom Daschle of South Dakota. For the Clinton campaign, the governor of Pennsylvania, Ed Rendell. Daschle and Rendell square off as surrogates for Obama and Clinton.
Yep - Russert is just reporting what everyone in the MSM knows - Clinton won TX. It must be true - it's been reported by all the major networks.
Heck - Gov. Rendell of PA knows it too. He piped up a couple of times on today's MTP:
MR. RUSSERT: And, and, Governor, at the end of all those votes, if Barack Obama still had more elected delegates, would you then agree that he deserves the nomination?
GOV. RENDELL: Not if Hillary Clinton wins Texas, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Florida back to back to back to back to back.
MR. RUSSERT: What happens, then--what do you, as governor of Philadelphia, governor of Pennsylvania...
Little Tim doesn't flinch. Why should he? he is sure that HRC won TX. And why shouldn't he be? He and his esteemed colleagues at MSNBC and NBC, as well as the rest of the punditocracy at ABC, CBS and Fox have all reported that Clinton won TX.
Rendell again ticks off his list of big states that HRC has won and adds the upcoming big states that she needs to win.
And we've got to get the strongest candidate. And if she wins Ohio, Texas, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Florida on top of all the other big states she won,
No flinching from Little Tim. And not much objection either from Tim's other guest, Tom Dashchle. Yep, he's the one there in Obama's corner. The one you would think should have mentioned Obama's lead in the total TX delegate count right at the top of the show. Or when Rendell first mentioned it. Or when Rendell second mentioned it. He's the one that should be mentioning it so I don't have to shout it at my TV and look crazy in front of my kids!
But finally, Tom Daschle got around to it. Sort of.
FMR. SEN. DASCHLE: It, it's, it's an argument. I wouldn't concede it's very strong, Tim. First of all, to say to the rest of the country they don't matter is not a strong argument. To say to the rest of the country that we're going to have an election, but if we differ with the ultimate result, we're going to--that that doesn't matter, you know, I don't see how anybody could make that case in a compelling way. You know, Barack Obama has shown he can win in every part of the country. We're turning out vote unlike anything we've ever seen before. We're winning big states, small states; we're winning across ethnic boundaries and lines. We have shown in a very compelling way--there's a recent poll that I said just came out that showed that Barack is winning far more states than Hillary Clinton is, so there's no question in my mind that the strongest candidate is the candidate who wins the most elections. Barack Obama has won 29 contests. Hillary Clinton has won 13 contests. That's the bottom line. There is no, no if, ands or buts about it. So you can say, "Well, you can win Texas and Ohio"--and, by the way, there's a very narrow margin, we may actually win more delegates in Texas than Hillary did at the end of the day. The, the bottom line, she's a good candidate; Barack's a good candidate. Barack's a candidate who can draw independents, Republicans and Democrats, and he will do it all over the country.
Well, it's not the stand-by-your-man statement that I would like to see from an Obama supporter, but you would think Timmeh would have a rresponse. After all, Daschle just dropped a huge bomb on MTP.
Timmeh usually loves it when guests "make news."
Except when that news is something Timmeh already knows and wants to forget about. He doesn't want to talk about it because it means that he and NBC and MSNBC have to say they screwed up and prematurely called TX for Clinton. I mean it's not like the timing was crucial - suggesting that Obama might win TX is the kind of thing that might have created pressure for Clinton to drop out if it were reported on Tuesday night or Wednesday morning. Remember, she needed a "big win" in TX and OH for the race to continue. And no "big win" in TX means no more Clinton v. Obama battle. And no more Clinton v. Obama battle means that MSNBC and NBC watch their horse-race driven ratings battle go south.
Obama v. Clinton makes for good TV, don't forget.
So what was Russert's response? Did his jaw drop at Daschle's bombshell? You would think so.
But nope.
Crickets.
Instead of following up on that big scoop, Russert turned to his other guest - Gov Rendell - the one who he can trust knows the script. The guest who knows that Clinton won big in Texas.
MR. RUSSERT: Governor Rendell, I want to talk to you about some comments made by Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton about the vice presidency. Yesterday in Mississippi, Bill Clinton said that if Hillary Clinton was the nominee, she would certainly consider Barack Obama. In fact, they would be "almost unstoppable" together. Hillary Clinton herself on Friday was talking about this also in Mississippi. Let's listen.
Yep - from Timmeh - it's crickets.