Ever since news broke about his brand of courtesy toward waitresses, David Gregory has been clamming up around the D.C. newsroom. But now we're told that his distancing from staff might have more to do with at least 10 consecutive days of dipping ratings, where "he's been losing big chunks of the strong lede-in audience he starts with," says a MSNBC insider. More startling, if the information is to be believed: Race for the White House has been attracting fewer viewers than Tucker Carlson's show did in its last month in the same 6pm slot, even with all the attention paid to the Pennsylvania primary, lending credence to the original theory about MSNBC's buyer's remorse.

Phil Griffin supposedly read the riot act to Gregory and exec producer Noah Oppenheim, with insructions to "get the numbers up … or else." Naturally, MSNBC chief communicator Jeremy Gaines says the info, is "complete and utter bs, just like everything else you post. … Simply not true." Not that the network's recent track record about refuting rumors holds much weight these days.