Rachel Maddow Denies Plans To Challenge Scott Brown For Senate

As we reported yesterday, Senator Scott Brown (R-MA) is raising money on the conservative frightmare doomsday Maddowpocalypse scenario of a hypothetical Rachel Maddow candidacy. The basis for his fundraising pitch is the one-two punch of a Draft Maddow Facebook page and a tweet from Massachusetts Democratic Party Chairman John Walsh.

Maddow responded to Brown’s solicitation in a funny guest spot on her show last night, and we contacted the Mass Dems to find out where their recruiting offer stood.

Since Maddow was herself the subject of the news, she and her producer’s made an interesting and smart decision to switch roles – Executive Producer Bill Wolff took over as host and interviewed Maddow on her political plans. Yes, here’s Rachel’s “guest appearance” on The Rachel Maddow Show last night:

I contacted the Massachusetts Democratic Party to confirm that John Walsh’s Twitter overture was, indeed, targeted toward Rachel Maddow.

Executive Director Stacy Monahan told me that Walsh has not revealed the intended recipient’s identity, but that “when he’s up to 1,000 (Twitter) followers, he (will) reveal who it was that he was trying to reach.”

I pointed out that if Rachel doesn’t accept, Brown could probably raise at least as much money if the Massachusetts Dems went after Keith Olbermann. While he currently resides in New York, surely there’s enough time to establish residency by 2012.

“That’s a good point…Maybe that’s who John intended to tweet, you never know,” Monahan replied.

Walsh’s Twitter feed currently has 690 followers, so if you want the straight skinny on this story, go follow him now. It’s a novel way to increase your follower count, for sure, but I think Walsh should’ve held out for more.

As for Maddow, denials aside, she’s got policy and political chops that many entertainer-to-politician leapers lack. Massachusetts could do a lot worse.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.