Tucker Carlson For President? Not in '08

Whether frightened or excited by those words, they have to come as something of a shock. But the word on the internets is that the bow-tied, recently-canceled host of MSNBC's Tucker, and Ron Paul supporter, plans to seek the nomination of the Libertarian Party. From the New York Times, via reason.com:

"Tucker Carlson for president?" That's the headline at the personal blog for Brendan Nyhan, a former Spinsanity editor who is now a graduate student in political science at Duke. Nyhan says that Carlson, the former "Crossfire" host and former writer for The Weekly Standard, among other magazines, may seek the nomination of the Libertarian Party, according to a rumor making the rounds among delegates to the Libertarian convention, which is being held in Denver this weekend.

The rumor is based on a report from Libertarian delegate Mike Munger that Carlson was among the choices on a call he received from a polling organization.

Alas, bowtie salesmen everywhere will be crushed to learn that it isn't going to happen, at least not this year. From Jake Tapper's Political Punch:

In any case, Carlson tells me that he ultimately decided not to do run.

He's with his family in Maine rather than in Denver with the Marijuana Policy Project and the like.

"I probably should have done it," Tucker emails me." Imagine the bus trip."

The Times jokingly suggests Paul Begala as Vice President. If they can get Jon Stewart on board as Communications Director, I think they've got a winner.

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