In a revelation that will surprise no one who can recall a time (last month) when he was talked about on cable news at least once an hour, football star Tim Tebow tells the Golf Channel that running for office may be in his future. In an interview with the network’s Dave Feherty, Tebow notes that “if it’s something I care about, possibly” he could see himself as a politician.

New Jersey governor Chris Christie is not running for president in 2012. He has said so himself many, many times. And yet this week, once again, rumors have surfaced that the freshman governor is “in talks” with Republican bigwigs to hop in, months behind a nine-person Republican field already cannibalizing itself more than a year before the actual election. No matter what Christie himself does, it seems his nonexistent campaign has mutated into the zombie presence of this election cycle: no matter how many times the candidate himself tries to kill it, the undead rumors keep come back to munch on Republican strategist brains.

AP is reporting that President Barack Obama has selected former Commerce Secretary William Daley as his Chief of Staff, replacing Interim Chief of Staff Pete Rouse. The spot had been vacated late last year when former Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel left his position to run for Mayor of Chicago. Not only does Mr. Daley have deep roots in Obama’s home city of Chicago, but he’s thought to have a very strong pro-business point of view, evidenced by his previous role as Commerce Secretary under President Clinton.

Politico is reporting that Michael Steele will be making a major announcement on Monday morning about whether or not he will run for re-election as Chairman of the Republican National Committee.

Politico’s Mike Allen added another layer of speculation to Keith Olbermann‘s sudden and indefinite suspension on Friday: Olbermann was suspended for refusing to apologize on air. “Olbermann told his bosses he didn’t know he was barred from making campaign contributions, although he is resisting saying that publicly. Olbermann may not hold as many cards as he thinks.”

Perhaps not surprisingly given all the subtle (and not so subtle) digs Sarah Palin has been sending the GOP establishment way, and hot on the heels of Frank Rich‘s speculation that a 2012 showdown is brewing between Palin and the “G.O.P. country club elites”, comes this Politico piece titled ‘Next for GOP leaders: Stopping Palin.’

When Marc Ambinder went live on Wednesday with his story for The Atlantic that former Republican National Committee chair Ken Mehlman was coming out as a gay man–in one of the worst kept secrets in Washington, D.C.–the story may have appeared to come out of nowhere. Although the story reads as if Ambinder had been [...]

This is an interesting little nod to who the Obama administration really thinks holds the power in the Republican party. David Plouffe, the mastermind behind Obama’s 2008 campaign, is about to release the paperback version of his New York Times bestseller ‘The Audacity to Win’ which recounts and explains the thinking behind that campaign. However, Mike Allen reports that the paperback version has been changed to include a new subtitle, which now reads: “How Obama Won and How We Can Beat the Party of Limbaugh, Beck, and Palin.”

The White House Correspondents Association has reportedly reached a decision on who gets Helen Thomas‘s much-coveted briefing room seat. From Mike Allen: “Congrats to White House Correspondents’ Board on its hard work: AP moves to Helen’s center seat, Fox to AP’s front-row seat, NPR to 2nd row.”

Commence the BP criminal investigation! One suspects the Obama administration is hoping to redirect the nation’s anger of the Gulf oil spill where (they feel) it belongs: squarely on the BP exec whose, possibly criminal, behavior may have resulted in this catastrophe. Despite originally planning to hold off until the leak was capped, the Justice Dept has instead decided to launch a criminal investigation now. Says Mike Allen: “The administration divorced BP yesterday, going public with the criminal investigation earlier than planned.”

The New York Times may have officially cornered the market on political bombshells. Last night the paper went live with a report that Connecticut Democratic Senate candidate Richard Blumenthal had lied about fighting in the Vietnam War. He had not. Ever.

Predictably, a great many people (read: journalists) were less than thrilled to see the New York Times anoint Politico’s Mike Allen the most influential journalist in Washington. In his WaPo column today Howie Kurtz politely suggests it might be otherwise. Hmm.

If Politico’s Mike Allen is the “most popular boy” after a glowing profile by Mark Leibovich in the New York Times Magazine hit the virtual street today, then the reaction to the piece by inside-the-beltway journalists represents the reaction of the AV club and, well, the yearbook staff: we hate him.

I don’t know if this qualifies as a conflict of interest so meta it cancels itself out, or just the height of self-branding, but in his “most powerful” Playbook column this morning ‘the man the White House wakes up to’ Politico’s Mike Allen scooped the New York Times by releasing nuggets from a feature they are doing on Mike Allen in this week’s magazine. Yes.

Press Sec. Robert Gibbs Reliable Sources this morning where after a few quick nods to the SCOTUS selection process Howie Kurtz quickly turned the talk to Fox News. Is the White House softening in its approach to the ‘wrestling’ that goes on on Fox News? Gibbs’ remarks regarding the news network bordered on genteel compared to some of the criticism we’ve heard from the administration in the past (and from others outside it today).

It did seem a tad coincidental. Just days after penning his much talked about ‘Waterloo’ column conservative thinker and former Bush administration official was fired from his $100,000/year job at the AEI. Frum, who was supposed to appear on Countdown last night and canceled, unloaded to Politco’s Mike Allen instead, asserting that it was “donor pressure” following the ‘Waterloo’ post that led to his dismissal.

Glenn Beck received a very special present this St. Patrick’s Day from one of his major chalkboard villains, SEIU president Andy Stern: an SEIU smock and a letter written in “little girl’s writing.” Beck responded in kind, making his own custom t-shirt designs to match each recipient’s personality. The answer to your question is no, Che Guevara does not appear, but Chairman Mao does!

I kid! Glenn Beck is not actually running President Obama’s anything schedule, nevertheless, he apparently wields a great deal of influence on the decision making of the Obama administration. At least when it comes to making decisions about the media.

Technically speaking President Obama did not tell his staff to stop reading the blogosphere, nor Politico for that matter, but it’s not hard to draw a connection between the president’s warning to staff not to get “absorbed in the Washington finger-pointing and intrigue” and the former two.

President George W. Bush has done an exceptional job of staying out of the media (and President Obama’s) spotlight since leaving office just over a year ago (wow…I just did a double-take…only a year!). We might begin to see and hear more from him come this November, however, which is when his book is set to be released.

Acknowledging the omen of last Tuesday’s special election in Massachusetts, President Obama and his team are repositioning themselves publicly in order to showcase the president’s “feisty side,” White House senior adviser David Axelrod told Politico. He was quick to note, though, that there will be “no reinventing” despite Washington’s desire for “a shakeup or human sacrifice.” Call it what you will, but isn’t a new public strategy a form of reinvention?

Happy Anniversary Mr. President. Oy. In the words of Jake Tapper, “one of the bluest states in the nation just gave President Obama the WORST anniversary gift he could think of.” Or at least one of them. The day after recriminations and analysis has already started as everyone from the White House on down tries to figure out how this happened and what to do next. And not surprisingly, plenty of people are weighing in.

President Obama and the media is getting the New Yorker treatment this week. Obama is about to celebrate his first year as President. And boy has it been a year. That intensity that has surrounded his first year, while partly the result of events that followed Obama to the Oval Office, is also the result of media coverage under “pressure to entertain or perish.” Sometimes things get missed.

During a segment on Hardball yesterday Chris Matthews suddenly took what was a routine conversation with Politico’s Jonathan Martin about Dick Cheney’s recent criticisms of President Obama and turned it into a rather pointed criticism of Politico’s seemingly cozy relationship with Cheney.

WaPo reporter Anne Kornblut’s new book about women in politics hits shelves today. In an excerpt that captures the McCain campaign right before it made a left turn into Bizarro world senior McCain staffer Nicole Wallace recounts the first time she was contacted by a “real” reporter regarding the maternity of Trig Palin.