Last night, MSNBC's Hardball had their kick off event for the 2008 Presidential election at the Castle at the Smithsonian. The only thing missing was the host, Chris Matthews.

MSNBC's Vice President of Washington, Tammy Haddad, told the crowd that Chris was in the hospital due to complications from diabetes and he was doing fine and would be home Friday.

NBC News uber-reporter Andrea Mitchell moderated the fiesty panel which included the Hotline's Chuck Todd, MSNBC's Norah O'Donnell, Patrick Buchanan and Howard Fineman.