With all the hubbub this week about Glenn Beck moving over to Fox, and Rod Blagojevich selling off Barack Obama's Senate seat, maybe you forgot about a little guy named Chris Matthews over at MSNBC. The word on the street was that Chris planned to drop out of the loudmouth pundit biz and take a shot at being a loudmouth politician by running for Senate in Pennsylvania.

But now a tipster informs us that the word going around MSNBC is that Chris couldn't run for the position even if he wanted to…he's had too many health problems in the past and "his family doesn't want him taking health risks in a stressful campaign." Not that that ever stopped John McCain from running, but whatevs.

So why all the rumors that Chris is leaving once his contract at MSNBC runs out in June?

Says our source:

It seems that he is trying to use the running for office as a ploy to squeeze a more favorable contract out of NBC. His ratings have been far from stellar over the past few years. He tries to blame his producers for the low numbers but it's about him, not them.

The fact that Matthews may have been using the Senate rumors as leverage against MSNBC is nothing new, but confirmation that Matthews favorite game involves passing the ratings blame buck? Well, this is the Hardball host, after all. But more importantly, MSNBC head Phil Griffin doesn't exactly have a warm place in his heart for the blustering Matthews, and having his hands tied as he's forced to renegotiate Chris' contract for a higher sum just in case might be just what the ex-frat boy ordered.

[Photo: BigHeadDC]