Opinion: Is ‘Morning Joe’ Scarborough running for the Senate?
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Is Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC’s ‘Morning Joe’ show for political junkies, planning to run for U.S. Senate from Florida next year?
Scarborough, who before his media gig was the Republican congressman from Pensacola, has been coy lately about his intentions.
‘I haven’t closed it off,’ Scarborough told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune yesterday. ‘I’ve been getting some calls from some fundraisers in Florida.’
It may be that Scarborough wants to wait and see, like everyone else in Florida politics, whether popular Gov. Charlie Crist is planning to run for the seat being vacated by Sen. Mel Martinez.
But then this morning, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs teased Scarborough about his political aspirations while a guest on his show.
Gibbs: Joe, is it really going to be Sen. Scarborough? Scarborough: I have to call my brother. Is he running? Yeah, right. Absolutely not. Co-host Mika Brzezinski: All these people are calling him, asking him to run for Senate in Florida. The phone’s ringing off the hook. Scarborough: Absolutely not. Gibbs: Mika, all I’ve got to say is ‘Morning Mika’ has a nice ring to it. Scarborough: There you go. So anyway. Here’s my problem, Robert. I don’t really think it would be good to run in 2010 with a party that is actively associating itself with the Taliban.
The last is a reference to comments made by Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Tex.), reported here by The Ticket last week, that the House GOP had to adopt the tactics -- if not the motives -- of the Taliban in waging an insurgents’ war against Democratic House leaders.
-- Johanna Neuman
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