Gail Shister
TVNewser Columnist

In 1968, Washington Post reporter Richard Harwood took himself off Robert Kennedy‘s campaign bus because he had become too enamored with the candidate.

Four decades later, his son, CNBC chief Washington correspondent John Harwood, says such a thing would not happen today — despite the gravitational pull of Barack Obama.

“There’s been a cultural shift in this business,” says Harwood, who will co-anchor CNBC’s inauguration coverage.

“When you’ve been doing this long enough, you feel a certain detachment from it.” (Chris Matthews and his leg tingles notwithstanding.)

Harwood, 52, has been around Presidential campaigns since he was 11. No joke.

Before his dad was re-assigned to George McGovern in ’68, young John appeared in a TV spot for RFK. Volunteered by his mother, he and several other youngsters chatted with the candidate about education. It was filmed at tony St. Albans School.

“I remember being cooped up under these hot lights thinking it was a special thing,” recalls Harwood, a public school kid. “In the ethical culture of today’s journalism, the idea that one of my kids would be in an ad for a candidate is preposterous.”

(video after the jump)

Harwood had no idea what happened to the RFK footage. In 2000, at the suggestion of the late political operative Bob Squier, Harwood combed Boston’s John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and “son of a gun, there was a master reel of all [RFK] campaign ads from 1968.”

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> Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson will appear in an exclusive interview tomorrow on Bloomberg during the NoonET hour. He’ll be asked about the latest jobs report, the state of the economy and his legacy.

> Tonight’s installment in BBC World News America’s “Notes to Obama” series comes from Univision anchor Jorge Ramos. The segment reminds President-elect Obama of his promises to Latino voters during the campaign.

> CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric will host the annual Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards for excellent in broadcast journalistm on January 22. She’ll be joined by NBC’s Hoda Kotb and Ira Glass to present the awards.

Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson (whose name has already come up in the debate) sat down with Larry Kudlow tonight on CNBC’s “Wall Street Crisis: Is Your Money Safe?” It’s Paulson’s first cable news interview since Sept. 8, the day after the government took control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

CNBC has also announced it will simulcast CNBC Europe from 1am-4amET tomorrow morning preempting infomercials.

The Paulson/Kudlow transcript is after the jump…

> Update: Paulson will be on Fox Business Network Thursday morning with Alexis Glick…

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This Week with George Stephanopoulos edged out NBC’s Meet the Press in the A25-54 demo last Sunday. MTP still beat all its public affairs competitors in Total Viewers. The economic crisis was the big topic on all the shows. ABC had Treasury Secy. Hank Paulson, Sen. Chris Dodd and Rep. John Boehner as guests. As well as a roundtable that included Democratic strategist Donna Brazile.

MTP also had Paulson as well as New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and a roundtable with CNBC’s Steve Liesman and Erin Burnett and the Washington Post’s Steve Pearlstein.

The last time ABC beat NBC in the demo was January 27, 2008 when This Week had Sen. Barack Obama on the broadcast. Interestingly, as the primary battles were heating up, Sen. John McCain was a guest on Meet the Press that day.

Also, for the 2007/2008 season, This Week placed second outperforming CBS’ Face the Nation among Total Viewers and the A25-54 demo. This marks the program’s first second place finish since Stephanopoulos began as anchor in September 2002 and its first second place finish among both Total Viewers and the demo in seven years (since the 2000/2001 season).

As Congress holds its first hearing into the $700 billion bailout, world leaders are addressing the U.N. General Assembly in New York. The cable news nets all carried President Bush’s remarks just after 10amET. FOX was the only broadcast network to have an optional special report for affiliates, with E.D. Hill anchoring, when Pres. Bush spoke, for the last time, at the UN. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will speak this afternoon.

Back in Washington, MSNBC has spent the most time covering the Senate Banking Committee hearing. Right now, CNN, FNC, FBN, CNBC and MSNBC are taking the event live as Treasury Secy. Hank Paulson delivers his opening remarks.

Several reports late yesterday and today attribute some of the reason for the markets recovery yesterday afternoon to a CNBC report by Charlie Gasparino.

The AP’s Joe Bel Bruno writes, “Shares of financial stocks initially plunged, then recovered as part of a dramatic afternoon reversal for most stock indexes after CNBC reported that Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson might back the creation of a new Resolution Trust Corp. to soak up bad loans and defaulted mortgages, their shares reversed course.”

Barron’s blog asks, “Was CNBC responsible?” They note it appears the report got things moving in the right directions, but they write, “The Wall Street Journal already made much the same assertion in its print edition this morning.”

On a separate issue, Columbia Journalism Review’s Ryan Chittum has a message for Jim Cramer and Erin Burnett — “Time to take a deep breath.”

First, Burnett suggested short sellers, “could be considered to be unpatriotic.” Cramer defended short sellers, but noted, “Obviously the financial terrorism thing to me has to be put on the table just because the regular short sellers are not doing this.”

Confused? Click continued to see the “terrorists” segment…

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FishbowlDC has the clip from yesterday’s multi-national Meet the Press, where Tom Brokaw spoke with Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson in Beijing, while David Gregory wrapped up the hour with a political round-table in Washington. The round-table included WaPo columnist and MTP veteran David Broder seated next to CNBC’s Erin Burnett; a coupling Gregory had some fun with:

“Somebody around this table is celebrating their 400th appearance on meet the press, and I think I speak for everybody when I say congratulations Erin Burnett…”

Here’s the clip…