About a week ago, I wrote a column on the media as today’s preferred fast-track to a political career. Now I might need to update it already. The New York Times is reporting that former governor / current author-Facebook-updater Sarah Palin is signing with Fox News as a contributor and host of “an occasional series.”
Let’s see if this new career holds her interest as long as running the state of Alaska did; 2012 is getting closer, after all. [Update: My colleague Michael Scherer calls the move a sign she won’t run. Not sure I agree, but hey, he doesn’t try to tell me who’s going to win American Idol.] Meanwhile, in the past week two MSNBC personalities have been discussed as possible candidates for Senate (and neither of them is Chris Matthews!).
First, evening host Ed Schultz, a son of North Dakota, has been bandied about as a possible Democratic candidate to replace the retiring Byron Dorgan. Schultz appeared to consider the option on-air, then said he wasn’t running, but in such as way as to not rule it out down the road, either.
And closer to home—my home—former congressman Harold Ford Jr. is considering a primary challenge to the New York Senate seat held by Kirsten Gillibrand. Ford was a representative from Tennessee, but for the past few years he’s been living in New York and has become better known to voters as a contributor and commentator on MSNBC.
What say we just drop the pretense and rename them the Fox and MSNBC parties? And if Nancy Grace runs for office, what country shall we all move to?