MSNBC TV talk show host Joe Scarborough claims he may run for the US Senate from Florida in 2018.
I don’t believe him.
The list of people who host daily network TV jobs AND receive multi-million dollar salaries and then quit to run for public office is roughly zero.
I think that Scarborough, like his colleague Chris Matthews and many other hosts before them, like playing the game of generating free publicity by flirting with a run for public office.
Here’s why it doesn’t happen.
Politicians have to spend roughly 18 hours a day doing two things: 1. Begging for money which they don’t get to keep and 2. Trying to get on TV to share their views for free.
Scarborough, Matthews, etc are already on TV daily to spread their ideas and they have other people doing the ask for millions that the hosts get to keep in the form of a salary.
So, no, don’t expect to see any network hosts running for office unless their contracts aren’t renewed or their networks switch formats (MSNBC?)
It’s true that both Mike Huckabee and Pat Buchanan walked away from lucrative TV gigs. But Huckabee only had a weekly show and Buchanan was a host before the days of multi-million dollar salaries.
TJ Walker is President of Media Training Worldwide. You can reach him at 212.764.4955