Chris Matthews

U.S. Rep. John Murtha (D-Westmont) said Tuesday that MSNBC newscaster Chris Matthews would be a worthy candidate for U.S. Senate because of his extensive experience in the political world, The Post-Gazette reports.

Murtha was speaking on Matthews' behalf at a Pittsburgh-area YMCA where the Hardball host had been scheduled to talk before a pneumonia diagnosis led him to cancel his appearance.

Speculation has been rampant for months that Matthews might run against U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) in 2010, and a recent poll indicated that Matthews just might be able to give the incumbent a run for his money.

While saying he hadn't talked to Matthews about a potential Senate run, Murphy implied that Matthews' media experience could apply well in politics, according to The Post-Gazette.

"Chris has a real talent for public-media type service," Murtha said.

U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter has some words of advice for U.S. Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain as they campaign for the White House:

"They'd be well advised if they didn't promise too much."

That's what Specter, the longtime moderate Pennsylvania Republican, said in a wide-ranging interview with the editorial boards of The Bucks County Courier Times and The Intelligencer. He had plenty more to say about both candidates' chances in the state, and also offered his thoughts on Bucks Couny's 8th Congressional District race and his own next election run.

With NBC's Chris Matthews rumored to be considering a run against Specter as a Democrat in 2010, the incumbent said he wasn't concerned.

 "Like Satchel Paige said, "I don't look too far behind me because they might be gaining.'" Specter said. "The right wing doesn't like me, so I'm sure I'll have an opponent each way."

U.S. Sen. Arlen SpecterSpeculation has been swirling for months that MSNBC's Chris Matthews might toss his hat in the ring to challenge U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter in 2010. A poll released this morning shows that while Specter, a Republican, remains popular, Matthews could very well give him a run for his money.

Specter led Matthews 41-36 percent in the Quinnipiac University poll, which surveyed 1,580 voters from July 30 to Aug. 3. The poll has a margin of error of 2.5 percent.

In the poll, 56 percent of Democrats supported Matthews, while 63 percent of Republicans backed Specter. The longtime incumbent carried independents, 44-27 percent. Specter, long dogged by health problems, recently said he would run for a sixth term in 2010, after finishing his latest chemotherapy treatments for Hodgkin's disease.

Specter, who has built a reputation as both a moderate and an iconic Republican in state politics, still has a 59 percent approval rating, according to the poll. Fifty-five percent of voters didn't know enough about Matthews to form an opinion.

"Sen. Arlen Specter remains the most respected statewide public official in Pennsylvania, but his age and health problems could make him vulnerable to a challenge from ... Chris Matthews," Clay Richards, assistant director of Quinnipiac's Polling Institute, said in a statement.

Chris Matthews: Photo by Getty ImagesMany celebrity candidates have been successful running for office. Jesse Ventura and Arnold Schwarzenegger became Governors, Tom Osborne and Sonny Bono became Congressman.

Voters in Pennsylvania though have not been as favorable to celebrity type candidates. The New York Sun takes a closer look at "Hardball" star Chris Matthews possibly running for U.S. Senate in 2010 against Arlen Specter.

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The rumor mill is in full force this week over the possibility that television host and Philadelphia native Chris Matthews will mount a 2010 U.S. Senate challenge against Republican Sen. Arlen Specter.

Appearing Monday night on The Colbert Report at the University of Pennsylvania, Matthews, who hosts MSNBC’s Hardball, when pressed by Colbert for an announcement responded, “Some kids want to be a fireman, I want to be a Senator.”