Matthews to the NYT Mag: “I Have a Lot of Options”

It’s a difficult undertaking to summarize an 8,000-word feature article, especially when the piece is so far-reaching. Mark Leibovich‘s cover story about MSNBC’s Chris Matthews in this weekend’s New York Times Magazine is online now, and provides a deep look into the Hardball host.

Suffice it to say, there is a lot more there than the feud-fueled passages highlighted yesterday.

The middle of the article delves into the “whip-tongued, name-dropping, self-promoting wise guy”‘s past: hitchhiking in Africa while in the Peace Corp, running for congress in 1974, penning a column for the San Francisco Examiner in the ’80s.

It also notes who gave Matthews his first show, “In-Depth,” on an “obscure network” called America’s Talking — Roger Ailes.

Still some passages show the growing divide at MSNBC with Keith Olbermann as the face of the network: “NBC executives have been promoting him heavily, and three network officials asked me why I was writing about Matthews and not Olbermann,” writes Leibovich.

But the conclusion of the article questions what Matthews will do next. “I have a lot of options,” he says. “I’m a free man starting next June.”

Leibovich raises two possibilities: taking over for Bob Schieffer when he leaves CBS’ Face the Nation, or running for the Senate in 2010.

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