Some magical MSNBC moments on election night

As the states began to break for Obama, the anticipation on-air was palpable. Say what you will about Uncle Chris Matthews, but he gave the most endearing and genuine little speech as to what it was going to mean to have the Obamas as our First Family. Then, the always wonderful Eugene Robinson brought the Viva Chuck Todd offices to tears speaking about telling his son that you can grow up to be president. Bishop T.D. Jakes and Congressman John Lewis added sobering and historical perspectives as history was virtually unfolding by the minute.

Also, enjoy our favorite little "pitchfork and torches" moment outside the White House.

Uncles Matthews and Olbermann are out

Over the weekend, MSNBC decided to give it's two biggest personalities some harsh news: Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann are relieved of their duty as election night hosts. From here on in, David Gregory (yeah, we know) will be at the helm and Matthews and Olbermann will be reduced to the role of analysts.

If you feel this was a needed move based on journalistic integrity or, if you're like us and have a brain-spraining time trying to imagine these two chiming in on election night as second fiddles to David Gregory, go ahead and participate in our newest poll:

A day in the life of The Chuck:The Chuck and his own personal political Ironman competition

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.

Can we pick'em or what?RADAR names TV's Most Powerful Pundits

Radar magazine is a favorite employee lounge read over here at the Viva Chuck Todd offices, so we were very pleased to see that they were giving it up for not only (#1) The Chuck, but (#3) Rachel Maddow and (#4) Scarborough as well. Whatever the hell Mike Huckabee and Gore 2000 saboteur Donna Brasile were doing on the same list we'll never know. But it was nice to see that a mainstream publication with a hilarious mean streak sees the pundit world the same way we do over here at VCT.

On the flipside of who's not hot, it was slightly sad to see Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews on the list, but you could definitely understand where Radar writer, Nick Curran was coming from. Olbermann could do nicely to finally lay-off the tired and borderline batsh*t crazy O'Reilly schtick and sweet jeezus, we too cannot wait for Matthews to start his Major Kong missile ride of a Pennsylvania senate run in 2010.

The Chuck "dazzles"isn't that redundant?

The Chuck was on Hardball with Chris Matthews today explaining the ever-changing electoral map. The Chuck deftly handles Matthew's signature overlaps and interruptions. Then again, Ellen found out the hard way what happens when you don't let Matthews lead.

Sunday is going to come whether we like it or not

You've heard it, we've heard it - The macabre murmur of necessary speculation on who will fill Tim Russert's chair. Politico.com and National Review Online have already weighed in on the potential heirs as have multiple blogs with insightful, albeit biased, yet consistently respectful opinions on the next chapter of Meet The Press.

The reason that we've decided to chime in on this uncomfortable subject is because at last count by our editorial staff, Chuck is at the top of most lists. As you read their observations, you understand that Chuck is the visceral choice. He emulates the qualities that Russert did; a warm humility, disarming intelligence and a voracious appetite for all things sport and politic. On the flipside, the logical choice is David Gregory. Logical in the sense that he's a known quantity by having been a guest-moderator several times before and is a fixture of the NBC News Political team. But what echoes constantly when Gregory's name is brought up is his elite arrogance and cozy relationships he shares with key political figures sometimes skewing his objectivity.

Andrea Mitchell, Gwen Ifill and Chris Matthews (I know) have been suggested as well. Even Tom Brokaw is making the lists. The new talent such as Keith Olbermann (not new per se, but new to this level of serious consideration for political coverage) and David Shuster have been hinted at with the all usual right-wing pot shots reserved for Olbermann.

Many people have pointed out the similar backgrounds both Chuck and Russert shared. The humble roots, strong family ties and respect for the golden rule. Some of the more heart-wrenching moments on Friday were when people like Andrea Mitchell and Keith Olbermann introduced Chuck as essentially one of the best things that happened to the NBC news team in a long time and each one emphatically praised Russert for being the one responsible for bringing Chuck on.

Let's just put it out there and freely admit that this is hardly the repository for objective analysis on Chuck Todd and the NBC News Division. We all want the best for Chuck and Meet The Press. What we don't want is a hasty solution in the midst of this historic election that causes a truncated epilogue to the tragedy that was Friday.

That's why we want to hear from you. Knowing that the vast majority of us would want nothing more than to see Chuck ascend to this role - we also know that there will be some decisions made on grounds antithetical to emotion. With that said, vote in the poll below and leave comments on why Chuck should get the job or why he shouldn't. Perhaps the right people who have influence read Viva Chuck Todd. We certainly like to think Tim Russert did.

Point of Order Matthews: You are no Kirk to Chuck Todd's Spock

"I feel like Captain Kirk sometimes and you're Mr. Spock."

That's what Chris Matthews said as an introduction bringing Todd into the discussion of the North Carolina/Indiana primaries. I would like to point out that this was a prime example of Mr. Matthews frequent delusions of grandeur and hackneyed pop culture references. To further elucidate, Chris Matthews could never be Kirk to Todd's Spock for the following reasons:

1. Matthews in his wildest fantasies would never be able to take down a Gorn - Todd could, no problem
2. Todd looks way better in mustard-colored lycra long sleeve Federation t-shirts than Matthews ever could (even after the bout with Malaria)
   
3. Kirk got the chicks - need I say more?