John King: King Of The Wall

If you have been watching CNN lately, you've seen a lot of John King. You might know him better as the man behind CNN's magic electoral wall. For people who have been following his career, it is no surprise to them that the once unknown has become an integral part of the CNN family. The Providence Journal profiled part of the "best political team on television" in today's edition. It is quite an interesting read.

CNN First Network To Confirm Biden as Pick

While ABC had the most telling scoop of last night (the fact that the Secret Service detail had been dispatched to the Biden home), CNN was the first to confirm that Sen. Joe Biden would be Obama's running mate. The confirmation came around 11:40 central time last night, just after I went to sleep (figures!!!).

Remembering Bernie Mac

Larry King will have a special one-hour show tonight as friends of comedian Bernie Mac will come together to pay tribute to him. Among King's scheduled guests tonight are Cedric The Entertainer and Steve Harvey.

You can actually send in questions, thoughts, or comments to King's show by clicking here. Some may be included in the broadcast!

Joplin, MO on CNN

So... what are residents of Missouri looking for in their next President? CNN made a trip to Joplin to find out. You can check out the one minute of responses they collected by clicking here. By the way, I would argue that these responses don't span the spectrum of views shared by residents of Joplin, let alone SW Missouri.

Did Nancy Grace Lead Woman To Suicide?

The case involving Linda Duckett and Nancy Grace moved forward this week after a judge would not dismiss the lawsuit that the Duckett family has against the CNN Headline News host.

According to the Associated Press:

A federal judge has refused to dismiss a lawsuit that claims CNN's Nancy
Grace pushed the mother of a missing toddler to suicide through aggressive
questioning.

CNN and Grace argued the wrongful death lawsuit brought by Melinda
Duckett's family would "severely chill" journalists' coverage of missing-persons
cases. But U.S. District Judge William Terrell Hodges on Thursday denied their
motion to dismiss the lawsuit.

Duckett, 21, was on Grace's show after her son Trenton went missing
from her apartment in August 2006. Grace grilled the woman, accusing her of
hiding something because Duckett did not take a lie-detector test and answered
vaguely regarding her whereabouts.
Duckett fatally shot herself before the
network aired the pre-taped interview.

The case is now ready to proceed. We shall see where this leads in the weeks ahead.

Beck, Behar To Sub For The King

Larry King is off for the week (or so it appears). Headline News Host and Radio Talk Show Personality Glenn Beck will be filling in tonight for the man with the suspenders. Comedian and The View co-anchor Joy Behar will be in King's chair tomorrow night, according to TV Newser.

And They Say CNN Is Liberal...

Here is CNN as they covered Gramm's resignation.


Here is MSNBC's coverage.


We record, you decide. ;-)

Obama Supports Death Penalty for Osama

This Sunday afternoon Fareed Zakaria, host of CNN's new show GPS, sits down for an exclusive one-on-one interview with presumptive Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama. Among the topics of discussion will be Osama Bin Laden. In this interview, Obama claims he would seek the death penalty against Bin Laden if he were to be apprehended.

"I am not a cheerleader for the death penalty — I think it has to be reserved for only the most heinous crimes, But I certainly think plotting and engineering the death of 3,000 Americans justifies such an approach."

The entire interview will air this Sunday at 12:00 p.m. local time on CNN.

David Cook To Meet The King

He may have won American Idol, but he has yet to meet "the King." Tonight, that will all change. Missouri native David Cook will be Larry King's guest at 8:00 p.m.

In other news... David Archuleta is also supposed to be there, too.



Should be an interesting hour of television!

Hillary Clinton LIVE!

Senator Hillary Clinton will be Larry King's guest tomorrow night (Monday) on Larry King LIVE at 8:00 central time. It happens to be the night before the Tuesday Pennsylvania Primary, which is make or break for her. I am not for sure if she is booked for the entire hour or for just a couple of segments.

CNN Programming Note

Wolf Blitzer announced this morning on his Sunday show "Late Edition" that he will be anchoring a special live Sunday night edition of "The Situation Room" at 7:00 tonight. I wonder if this has anything to do with the neck and neck race between MSNBC and CNN for the 2nd place spot in the 25-54 demo rating in March. Hmm...

Anderson Cooper Coming To NW Arkansas

CNN's Anderson Cooper will be speaking at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville on March 7. The Arkansas-Democrat Gazette has more details on the speech. You can find that information by clicking here.

Jon Stewart To Visit CNN

Jon Stewart, host of The Daily Show on Comedy Central, will sit down with Larry King for the hour this Wednesday on CNN. This comes just a few days before he hosts the Oscars. I am sure the show, politics, and the writer's strike will be topics that come up. Larry King Live airs at 8:00 central time Monday through Friday.

Campbell Brown To Anchor CNN Debate

CNN has announced that Campbell Brown will anchor next Thursday evening's debate in Texas. John King and Univision's Jorge Ramos will serve as panelists for the debate. This should be an interesting test for Brown, who is set to launch a show on CNN Primetime soon. Read the complete press release here.

News and Notes: New Debate, FOX in the Morning, and Chili Times at KSPR

A few quick items to pass along this morning:

1) Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have agreed to a debate that will air next Thursday from Austin on both CNN and Univision. The candidates have also agreed to an Ohio debate that will air on MSNBC later this month.

2) FOX in the Morning with Rob Evans debuted last Monday on KSFX (Ozarks FOX). What are your thoughts on the show? I had a chance to catch part of it yesterday morning (due to the weather) and I will fill you in on my $.02 later.

3) Finally, it has been chili around KSPR lately... literally. The winner of the station's recent cook-off is none other than weekend anchor Michelle Sherwood. She blogs about her recent taste of victory (complete with a trophy picture) here.

Big Tuesday for Cable News!!!

The results are in and CNN is the clear frontrunner for political coverage. Super Tuesday handily went to CNN. According to TV Newser, CNN averaged 3.6 million viewers in primetime. FOX News followed behind with 3.4 million, MSNBC pulled a strong 2.1 million, while CNN Headline News limped along with 575,000 viewers in primetime.

People Like Civility; Dem Debate Highest Rated Cable Primary Debate Ever

Well, maybe people tuned in expecting another Democratic primary WWE debate, but they were sorely disappointed. Either way, TV Newser reports that it was the most watched primary debate in the history of cable television. The debate, which aired on CNN, had approximately 8.2 million viewers.

CNN GOP Debate Is A Ratings Winner; Will Last Night's Debate Do The Same?

TV Newser is reporting that the CNN GOP Debate drew 4 million viewers. The contentious debate spatters between Romney and McCain were apparently very popular. The next question becomes... will the "friendly" debate between Clinton and Obama be as popular? We should know later today.

CNN Republican Debate Tonight

McCain, Romney, Huckabee, and Paul will battle it out tonight on CNN live from the Reagan library in California. The debate will start at 7:00 local time. I will be unavailable to live blog the event, but will post if we have any newsworthy moments. This debate comes just hours after Rudy Giuliani endorses John McCain and the rumors are swirling the Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger might do the same. That would be a blow to Obama, who was seen a shoe-in for the governor's endorsement after the Kennedy family ceremony earlier in the week.

Hillary Wins; McCain and Huckabee Down To The Wire

All of the news networks called Hillary's Nevada win a few hours ago.

Now the focus turns to South Carolina where it looks to be extremely close between John McCain and Mike Huckabee. Polls close there at 6:00 local time. The News2K will be following this story throughout the evening.

Cable news networks main anchors covering the primary:

MSNBC: Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann
CNN: Wolf Blitzer
FOX News: Brit Hume