The latest polls show President Christopher Matthews comfortably ahead of his Republican opponent as he seeks reelection to the White House.
In 1974, Matthews was elected to the US House of Representatives part of the Watergate "Class of 1974", the mostly young Democratic freshmen who sought to reform Washington. Matthews would be so close to Tip O'Neill that the press gave him the nickname of "Tip's toddler."
After he was elected to his fourth term in 1980, Matthews became House Majority Whip. In that position, he was able to keep much of the Democratic caucus in line on many key votes during the Reagan administration. Mario Cuomo, who served as Matthews' Chief of Staff from 1978 to 1985, recalled that his boss's personality and energy once resulted in near fisticuffs with an Arkansas Congressman named Bill Clinton. Cuomo went on teach constitutional law at St. John's University, was a panelist on television's The McLaughlin Group and is currently the host of MSNBC's Hardball with Mario Cuomo.
Another former staffer, James Carville, went into political consulting and created the advertising campaign that got Tim Russert elected Governor of New York in 1982. When Russert was elected President in 1992, Carville became Chairman of the DNC.
When Tip O'Neill retired from Congress in 1986, Jim Wright became Speaker of the House and Chris Matthews moved up to House Majority Leader. Oddly enough, Clinton succeeded Matthews as House Majority Whip.
In 1989, Wright was forced to resign and Matthews was elected Speaker of the House at the age of 43. When the Republicans took over Congress after the 1994 elections which saw Clinton lose reelection, Matthews led the Democrats as House Minority Leader. He got his old job of Speaker back after the 1996 elections. Rep. Rachel Maddow (D-MA) became House Majority Leader (she was elected to Congress in 1990 after Matthews forced Barney Frank to resign after it was discovered that his Washington townhouse was used as headquarters for a prostitution ring).
Matthews remained Speaker until he decided not to seek reelection in 2002 (privately, he felt that President Al Gore was weak in responding to Republican party attacks regarding the War on Terrorism). Surprisingly, Maddow also chose not to run for reelection. Instead, she ran for Governor of Massachusetts and defeated Republican Mitt Romney. The Republicans went on the win back the House and Senate.
When Vice President Bob Graham decided to retire in 2004, Gore picked Matthews as his running mate. Many felt that Matthews was a better campaigner than Gore. John McCain and his running mate George Allen swept to victory in 2004.
The McCain administration never got on the right footing. McCain's decision to send troops to Pakistan and Iran was unpopular and Vice President Allen committed several gaffes during the 2006 election campaigns (such as singing "Bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran").
It was no surprise when Matthews clinched the Democratic nomination in 2008 after Super Tuesday. He selected Governor Maddow as his running mate (she and her wife, Chrissy Gephardt were wisely kept out of the South during the campaign).
When President Russert died in June 2008, Vice President Allen was criticized for continuing to campaign while Matthews and McCain suspended their campaigns.
Matthews became just the second Roman Catholic President while Maddow became the first female (and openly gay) Vice President.
I apologize for the long story. My question is what would happen if Matthews foray into politics in 1974 was not successful? He did serve on the staffs of Senators Ed Muskie and Frank Moss; would he still be working for other Congressmen?
Your thoughts?