Below The Beltway

The inside the beltway rumors about Chris Matthews running for Senate in Pennsylvania seem to be coming closer to reality:

Chris Matthews is dead serious about running for the Senate in Pennsylvania — and is shopping for a house in the state and privately discussing quitting MSNBC as proof of his intense interest, according to NBC colleagues, political operatives and friends.

Even so, some NBC insiders think it’s all simply a negotiating ploy to jack up his contract.

The garrulous host of the show “Hardball with Chris Matthews” has already picked out a home in Philadelphia to establish residency in the state, according to a Democratic operative in discussions with him about a potential candidacy. Over Thanksgiving weekend, at his vacation house in Nantucket, Matthews’ family members gave him their full backing.

As speculation surrounding his potential candidacy heats up, Matthews has also been asking advisers whether to step down from his MSNBC post well before his contract expires in June. At one recent meeting, he was advised that if he truly intends to run, he should resign from the network as soon as possible.

“We talked about the value of doing this now and six months from now. I advocated that he do this as soon as possible,” the operative said. “It’s the MSNBC stuff that’s going to jam him up. I said, ‘If you want to be a U.S. senator, step up and get into the race.’”

If Matthews is serious about running, some within the network hope he commits to the Pennsylvania Senate race sooner rather than later. Otherwise, his nightly presence on “Hardball” provides easy fodder to critics fueling the narrative that MSNBC is in the tank for the Democratic party.

Oh I don’t think that Matthews’ presence on the air is going to impact that at all, Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow may as well be getting their paychecks directly from the DNC.

Whether Matthews’ political desires are genuine or not, I’m betting that this Rasmussen poll is going to get Matthews thinking seriously about running:

Republican Senator Arlen Specter is potentially vulnerable in his 2010 bid for re-election. A Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Pennsylvania voters finds Specter leading MSNBC pundit Chris Matthews by just three percentage points, 46% to 43%, in a match-up that may foreshadow one of the nation’s most closely-watched Senate races.

Matthews, whose handling of the presidential campaign drew loud complaints of bias from Republicans, has expressed interest in the race. His contract with MSNBC expires next year.

While Specter attracts support from 32% of Democrats, only 70% of Republicans say they would vote for him.

While it’s still incredibly early in the 2010 election cycle, and Matthews could prove to be his own worst enemy on the campaign trial, this seems to indicate that Specter — who is 78 years old now and will be 80 by the time Election Day 2010 rolls around — is incredible vulnerable for the first time since he beat Lynn Yeakel by only 2 points back in 1992.

I’m going to bet that Matthews gets into the race.