To any Jossip reader, the Observer’s story today that David Gregory — once the great hope of NBC News — has turned from commodity to casualty will be of little surprise. We’ve pointed out Gregory’s less than stellar ratings. His riffs with colleagues. The fact that we’d rather watch QVC than Race to the White House (a show title, though catchy, even Tom Brokaw has trouble remembering).

But as Race begins to wind up its short-lived run, with November’s crowning of a president acting as the show’s by-definition ending, it’s time to figure out what to do with Gregory. Should he keep his MSNBC show, which is less a place to break news than it is an analyst rehashing of talking points by NBC News stars? Should he return to the White House press pit, where he starred in many a YouTube video battling with press secretaries? Or should he be elevated to something like Meet The Press moderator, where he’ll be charged with carrying on Tim Russert’s legacy and shine a light on politician’s double-speak? Might he be invited to take over Katie Couric’s chair? Or Brit Hume’s?

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Now that Tony Snow is dead, everybody who made it their jobs to hate him, rebuff him, criticize him, and expose him as a White House shill. Every one is a saint in death!

Last night, it was David Gregory’s turn. Here, he delivers a “Remembering Tony Snow” tribute. Quite touching, really. Nevermind that Gregory couldn’t stand the guy.

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NBC News is doing the respectable thing and not commenting, publicly, about their plans in naming a successor to Tim Russert, whose death on Friday at the network’s Washington studios has left them without a Meet The Press anchor, or a D.C. bureau chief. As a show of respect for Russert’s family and his colleagues, 30 Rock is holding off on telling anyone what they plan to do come this Sunday.

While NBC News chief Steve Capus and NBC head Jeff Zucker wisely selected Tom Brokaw to moderate yesterday’s MTP Russert tribute, with a line-up of the guests the late anchor would’ve booked himself, there’s nothing firmed up for the weeks ahead, claims NBC.

None of that means media’s chattering classes aren’t placing over-unders on who’s going to fill Russert’s slot, at MTP or leading the network’s Washington unit. There’s a list of usual suspects, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. So who’s the most likely to take the very big reins?

Let’s take a look.

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As tasteless as it may seem, the rush to find out what to do with Sunday’s Meet The Press, following Tim Russert’s sudden death at NBC’s D.C. studio this afternoon, is on. We’re told Steve Capus & Co. are already plotting out what to do, and it’s likely Andrea Mitchell will be asked to chair the show, though David Gregory is also a candidate. It’s very possible Sunday’s show will be used, at least in part, to air a video memorial of Russert, with Tom Brokaw being asked to join the panel, along with Chuck Todd, and others. It’s unclear what the role of Brian Williams, who is anchoring NBC Nightly News from Afghanistan, will be, says, a source.

MSNBC anchor David Gregory may have been dancing up a storm with Chris Brown this morning on Today, but last week, his choreography wasn’t so great.

That’s because Gregory reportedly backstabbed a colleague in order to get on the NBC Nightly News, reporting on the Scott McClellan book scandal, all the while edging out NBC correspondent Kevin Corke, who did most of the reporting.

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A funny happened on the way to The O’Reilly Factor. After all his huffing and puffing, Bill O’Reilly finally sat down with White House weasel Scott McClellan last night. And rather than aim all of his diatribe at the poor sucker for being a traitor to the Bush administration, O’Reilly faulted him for appearing on those other, liberal, Bush-hating networks just to sell his book.

Funny, because weren’t those networks the ones McClellan promised, in his book proposal, to go after? Well, he kinda did, blaming them for going to easy on the White House in the lead up to the war in Iraq.

But why’d we have to wait for O’Reilly to go after NBC – the employer of David Gregory, which McClellan said he could devote a whole chapter to – in order to get to this level of third-grade debate?

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David Gregory, the NBC News White House correspondent and MSNBC show host, has ample reason to have it in for Scott McClellan: The former White House press secretary regularly misled the press and Gregory, including in this famous example at left, and this awesome confrontation, and followed Bush administration’s orders to play rough with 30 Rock’s news operations.

But now it’s McClellan who’s fighting back against Gregory. It his book proposal for What Happened, McClellan promised to take a look at the liberal media, with special attention to Gregory: “I came to know and respect those who were assigned to the White House beat. They are solid professionals, but rarely scrutinized or put under the microscope. I will take a look at notable personalities in the White House Briefing Room, including David Gregory and Helen Thomas. I anticipate an entire chapter about the former.”

And with McClellan’s manuscript hitting bookstores, and his making the rounds on all the talk shows, including NBC’s (and tonight, Bill O’Reilly’s), it’s time for Gregory to lash back at his foe.

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There’s a rumor going around MSNBC that Howard Kurtz’s unfriendly article about the network, “MSNBC, Leaning Left And Getting Flak From Both Sides,” was a David Gregory-orchestrated hit job against his colleagues.

Kurtz’s piece, which followed up earlier items about the (invisible?) controversy brewing now that NBC News and MSNBC are both housed at 30 Rock and sharing resources, slammed the network for the convergence of hard news reporting and opinion.

We’re hearing that when the article hit yesterday, Keith Olbermann and his camp began raging over Kurtz’s printed criticism about Olbermann manning the anchor chair during primary coverage, a time when, one might suggest, a newsman without obvious bias should be running the show.

Of course, this isn’t the first time Olbermann has directed his anger Gregory’s way.

But what really sent Olbermann over the edge was this line: “Some top NBC journalists say privately they are troubled by the overlapping identities.”

All eyes have been on Gregory as one of those “top NBC journalists” who spoke with Kurtz. And to those who think so, one of the next lines, a pro-Gregory plug, wasn’t a surprise: “Andrea Mitchell and David Gregory, both well-regarded NBC correspondents, now anchor hour-long programs on the cable outlet. Gregory replaced Tucker Carlson, leaving former GOP congressman Joe Scarborough as the channel’s only conservative host.”

And if Olbermann needed more evidence that Gregory helped steer Kurtz’s item, it came here:

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David Shuster will definitely continue manning MSNBC’s 4pm hour, a NBC source confirms to us, but that doesn’t mean he’ll quit what he’s good at: primetime reporting. He’ll continue filing reports for the NBC Nightly News and appearing on-air during MSNBC dayside, pulling double duty with the new role. But don’t expect Shuster’s hour block to be branded around him; we’re told it’ll remain the nondescript “MSNBC News Live,” a la Andrea Mitchell’s 1pm hour.

So why will Shuster be filling in at 4pm? For one, it’s likely to save cash. While Shuster may get a small bump in pay for hosting the hour, it also means MSNBC doesn’t have to shell out for another anchor’s entire salary. (Just another example of 30 Rock filling MSNBC jobs with NBC News talent.) And also: Chris Matthews has been complaining about the lead-in numbers for his 5pm Hardball.

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Today show and Race to the White House producer Noah Oppenheim is leaving NBC News to head to Reveille, the production unit started by NBC’s co-chair Ben Silverman that’s behind Ugly Betty and The Office. [TVN] Bowing to pressure of conflicts of interest, Silverman sold Reveille this year to Elisabeth Murdoch’s Shine, which means his new job will put him closer to Bill O’Reilly than it will to Keith Olbermann. No matter, though: Today show exec producer Jim Bell is “happy that he’ll still be part of NBCU’s extended family.”

While this morning’s Page Six item about Keith Olbermann recyles previous Jossip reports, it also makes one thing more clear: News Corp. has many vehicles to push its anti-MSNBC/GE crusade, and Bill O’Reilly’s diatribes are just one of them.

Repeating our previous reports about Keith Olbermann’s behavior and conflicts with other talent like David Gregory and Dan Abrams, P6 also finds itself on the front lines of O’Reilly’s battle against the network — which, it turns out, News Corp. tried to quell at the highest levels, and is now more than content to keep supporting. Just like the real war!

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With all our talk about Chris Matthews losing his job to David Gregory when the 5pm anchor’s $2m/year contract is up next year (if Phil Griffin has his way), one might think Matthews’ current band of merry crew members might be worried about losing their jobs.

Not the case, says one insider.

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Yesterday TVNewser rebuffed our story about Keith Olbermann and David Gregory’s on-air dust-up – where Keith slammed his fist on the table to get David to quit hogging camera time and wrap up his panel discussion – quoting an insider who says, “As usual, Jossip is trying to create conflict where there is none.” Adds TVN: “A source who was in the control room Tuesday night tells us Olbermann was actually trying to get the attention of the floor director, so he could get to a commercial break, and be back with live coverage at the top of the hour.”

Was that control room source a one Phil Griffin, also known as MSNBC’s chief?

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Perhaps before Clinton, Obama, or McCain is crowned president this November, MSNBC’s David Gregory will have alienated every other on-air talent at the network.

So far he’s already earned the ire of Chris Matthews (MSNBC head Phil Griffin wants to replace the Hardballer with Gregory); Joe Scarborough (he stormed off the set when Gregory was allowed to hog camera time, though he’s never liked him much).

And as of last night? Keith Olbermann.

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One thing we missed while cringing at Chris Matthews last night: fella has a new ‘do. [HP] Or at least a new hair color. This is interesting because it reminds us of somebody else at MSNBC. Somebody else who Chris Matthews is said not to get along with.

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