PA-Sen: Matthews Not Running

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Thursday January 08, 2009 · 1:04 PM PST

2009/01/08 · 13:04

Chris Matthews, the host of the MSNBC program "Hardball," told his staff on Wednesday night that he would not run for the Senate in 2010 from Pennsylvania.

While a Tweety candidacy no doubt would have been extremely entertaining, many Democrats prefer their candidates misogyny-free, and the entertainment could quickly have become divisive.

This leaves Patrick Murphy (PA-08) and Allyson Schwartz (PA-13) as among the most likely challengers to five-term Republican Senator Arlen Specter. Specter may first face a primary challenge from Club for Growth Pat Toomey, who came close to knocking him off in 2004. Research 2000 polling for Daily Kos shows Specter getting under 50% in that primary match-up and in general election head to heads against both Murphy and Schwartz.

Much depends on the political environment in 2010, of course, but at the moment, it appears that Specter would be a tough but not impossible opponent for any of the rumored Democrats. But without question, the best chance for a Democratic pick-up is for Toomey to win the Republican primary.

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