As the first night of the 2008 Democratic National Convention comes to an end, it is inconceivable to believe Chuck Todd is going to survive the remainder of this week.The man is superhuman. He shows up looking like the cat that swallowed the canary this morning on Morning Joe, simply beaming from the excitement of knowing that for the rest of the week he will be applying his gifts and opinions towards unfolding history. Hell, just the fact that he still had his hearing and a semblance of a voice after that mosh pit of a remote at Sams #3 diner where the Morning Joe crew was working from was a miracle in itself.
At 12:00pm EST he settled in nicely doing the anchor thing with some great guests such a former Governor of Virginia Mark Warner and presidential historian Michael Beschloss. After that it was a free-for-all for The Chuck popping in and out of everybody's broadcast all the way up till The Nightly News with Brian Williams. Believe it or not, the lad looked as fresh as he did 16 hours prior.
Below is a nice recap of the evening filed by Viva Chuck Todd Chief Field Correspondent, Lenore K.
7:11 p.m. ET
Chuck talked with Matthews about the Denver bubble they're in, saying the Clinton die-hards are a small group with a louder voice than numbers, and about how this is the British version of campaigning due to the 70-day sprint to the election, unless there's a days-long recount.
7:36 p.m. ET (following some Keith/Chris vs Joe unpleasantness)
Chuck with Keith —
Hillary. Again. The rollcall. Again.
After Keith launched into one of his endless multi-part questions, he got The Chuck smackdown: "Keith, you asked about eight questions. I'm going to try to answer a few of them."
He said the campaigns are working closely together on the rollcall, that the speeches are more contentious than the rollcall. That would seem to invite a follow-up question like, "How so, Chuck?" But no, apparently, the minds of Keith & Chris were elsewhere.
8:07 p.m. ET
Chuck talked about "the hidden hand of power of Nancy Pelosi," how she did a lot to shift the party away from the Clintons to Obama; how, while going after the superdelegates, the Clintons would still have had to get through a convention run by Pelosi & Dean, "two people who felt they never owed the Clintons anything."
10:08 p.m. ET
With Brian Williams —
Chuck talked about how modern conventions are defined by these moments (Kennedy speech), how there's a bigger thing [than the Clintons], how the keys to the party will be handed over to the Obamas even though Bill's still hanging on to them a bit.
10:28 p.m. ET
Chuck listed the three things Obama has to do this week: fill in the gaps (of his bio); create contrast with McCain; and create unity.
10:55 p.m. ET
Chuck said Michelle had a tough act to follow, but she was trying to connect with blue-collar voters, and with Hillary Clinton voters (because, I learned today, there's no more important bloc of voters in the whole world).
And in his 16th hour of work —
11:41 p.m. ET
Chuck said there'll be two memories from this convention: Obama's speech & Teddy Kennedy's, & the Clinton drama may fade into the background. Chris Matthews ended this segment with these insightful words: "I don't know how we could do any of this without Chuck Todd. He's the best. Chuck, you're the greatest."
Here here Matthews. We couldn't agree more.
6 comments:
Ummm, did Chuck make a mistake last night when talking about Colorado? Did he call Fort Collins historically conservative? Ummm, I lived there a long time, and I think Chuck is mistaken. He is right that the 4th congressional district historically has elected conservative representatives that then became conservative senators (e.g., Wayne Allard). However, this is because Fort Collins is offset by the entire eastern (and rural) half of the state. One need look at the state legislators out of the Fort.
Is it just me, or did MSNBCs coverage look like they just unloaded the trucks the day before? The wind noise on Norah O'Donnell's set was very distracting to not only me - but obviously to her and her panel. And can KO and Matthews stop doing Blackberry and actually pay attention to their guests? All those pregnant pauses of them multitasking during their remote interviews was, as Charles Barkley would say - turrible. You know you're having an off night when David Gregory is one of the bright spots.
I love Chuck but I think he was wrong about Michelle's speech not being as memorable as Teddy's. More than half of voters are women, and she - and her kids - spoke directly to them and hit an emotional home run.
Chuck is obviously a man - but he should recognize the importance of that speech in terms of the female and family vote.
Michelle needed to dispel the "angry black woman" America-hating caricature the right wing has painted of her, and the mission was accomplished.
To me, as a woman, a wife, and a mother, that speech, like her husband's 2004 one, was one for the ages.
What is wrong with his speaking these days? It seems like something is wrong with his tongue or mouth. He doesn't usually have a lisp...
Um, okay, so I was watching Chuck on MJ a few minutes ago and he seemed incredibly uncomfortable about the VCT stuff. Usually he seems like he loves it... Wonder if he's getting too much grief for having a fan club.
I saw the same thing. I think he's a modest man who doesn't understand why he has a fan club to begin with. Think about it, I would be the same way. I process immigration paperwork everyday. If someone did a Viva Lee C. fan site because I push paper really well, I'd be a little confused too. The Chuck is in the same position. He will soon come to embrace those who adore his work but he hasn't found that path yet.
Mad props to Joe and Mika for brandishing the VCT, Chuck '08, and Chuckolyte logos on today's show.
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