Chris Matthews

It certainly can't be a bad thing for a man with a political talk show called "Hardball" to be nearly challenged to a duel by a U.S. senator. MSNBC has quickly moved to take advantage of Sen. Zell Miller's combative GOP convention interview with Chris Matthews, featuring it in advertisements. It was Matthews' second eye-popping exchange with a guest in a month. Matthews is hot right now, and not just under the collar.

As Californians ponder pulling the plug on Gov. Gray Davis, many national pundits have been cracking wise about the Golden State's latest crackup. But at least one prominent talk-show host, Chris Matthews, thinks that California's shaky politics make it the place to be this fall, and is temporarily moving his act west to investigate the tremors.

MSNBC, continuing to revamp its lineup in an effort to pull out of a distant third place among the cable news channels, announced Wednesday that it has signed talk host Chris Matthews to a new seven-year contract, given him a key slot in its lineup and installed him as anchor of its prime-time presidential election coverage. Matthews' "Hardball" is MSNBC's top-rated show, even though it also airs on sister channel CNBC.

He made no secret about it. Chris Matthews wanted to be a pundit, a player, a face on the Sunday political talk shows. He discussed it with friends when he was speech writer and spokesman for House Speaker Thomas P. (Tip) O'Neill Jr., and he even described writing his book, "Hardball," as a way of establishing his credentials. So, two years ago, he and executive editor Larry Kramer of the San Francisco Examiner struck a deal to make it happen. Matthews would become an Examiner columnist, complete with the prestigious title of Washington bureau chief.