CBS News has slated its 2012 Presidential and Vice Presidential debate coverage plans. “CBS Evening News” anchor Scott Pelley will be anchoring CBS’ coverage from the debate cities.

Bob Schieffer will be moderating the October 22 debate in Boca Raton, FL, so “Face the Nation” will originate from there the Sunday before the debate. “CBS This Morning” will also originate from Florida that week, with Charlie Rose and Norah O’Donnell in Florida, and Gayle King in New York.

Contributors to CBS News coverage will include former Fox News correspondent an current National Journal writer Major Garrett, Bloomberg TV’s Julianna Goldman, Rana Foroohar of Time magazine, Rajiv Chandrasekaran of the Washington Post, CBS News Senior National Security Analyst Juan Zarate, and Peggy Noonan of the Wall Street Journal.

More information below.
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Keith Olbermann made his return to TV political commentary on ABC’s “This Week” this morning. Scandals, of the Secret Service and GSA varieties, the “dog wars,” the economy and 2012 polling were just some of the topics of discussion. This was a Sunday morning, not a Wednesday evening Olbermann: no raised voices, no demands, comity if not comedy. The most contentious it got was when Rob Portman‘s name came up as a potential Romney VP pick. Peggy Noonan liked the idea. Olbermann and Donna Brazile shook their heads. “Do you want another businessman on that ticket?” asked Olbermann. “Oh my goodness, yeah that would be just fine,” said Noonan, in the most calm, measured, non-cable news voice ever heard.

George Stephanopoulos ended the conversation talking about something Olbermann and conservative George Will agreed on: baseball, specifically the saving of Fenway Park which faced the wrecking ball in the 1990s and this week celebrated its 100th birthday.

While the show still focused on national politics and policy — and baseball — it originated from far outside the Beltway, at ABC News studios in New York.

Keith Olbermann will be part of the roundtable on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” this Sunday. Olbermann joins George Will, Donna Brazile, Matt Dowd and Peggy Noonan. Olbermann was on “Late Show with David Letterman” earlier this month discussing his departure from Current TV. He was fired from Current March 30. Olbermann has filed suit against the network and Current has filed a counter-suit over the parting.

Former President Ronald Reagan would have turned 100 years old tomorrow. So this weekend, the news networks are offering special programming honoring the legacy of the 40th President of the United States.

CNN chief national correspondent John King will anchor special coverage of the Reagan Centennial Celebration live from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley, tomorrow from 2-4pmET. Attendees at the event include former Secretary of State James Baker, former Vice President Dick Cheney, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and cabinet members of the Reagan administration.

NBC’s “Meet the Press” will broadcast live from the Library tomorrow as well. Guests include Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry and Baker. There will be a round-table discussion with Baker, former Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan, former San Francisco mayor and state assembly Speaker Willie Brown, and NBC News White House Correspondent during the Reagan administration, Andrea Mitchell.

Fox News Channel will air stories and vignettes throughout the weekend that will focus on the milestone moments in Reagan’s life: his Hollywood career, his marriage to Nancy, political campaigns, the presidency, and his retirement from public life. Tomorrow night, Fox News will re-air “Reagan’s Resolve” documentary. Fox News Los Angeles correspondent Casey Stegall will be reporting live from the Reagan Library on Sunday.

TVNewser went to Willie Geist‘s party Friday night to celebrate his book, “American Freak Show.” Geist is the Co-Host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” and host of “Way to Early with Willie Geist.”

Some of the notable guests were the author’s father, CBS correspondent Bill Geist, president of MSNBC, Phil Griffin, as well as MSNBC hosts Joe Scarborough, and Tamron Hall, Arianna Huffington, former GE CEO Jack Welch, billionaire Mort Zuckerman, CNBC anchor Erin Burnett, Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan, NBC News president Steve Capus, and MSNBC political analyst Mark Halperin.

Fun, casual, and family-oriented, the party mimicked the spirit of the book, which is a satirical look at American politics and pop culture. In the basement of PJ Clarke’s, Geist’s friends, family, and colleagues ate everything from mini burgers and steak to oysters and lobster rolls.

TVNewser’s video is after the jump with comments from Geist’s dad, Hall, Scarborough, the author himself, and Geist’s uncle Bert. Read more

When will “60 Minutes” get another full-time female correspondent, Lesley Stahl?

“Good question,” says Stahl, who joined “60″ in 1991. “I have no idea. They [my bosses] know I think we should have more women. I think it would be wonderful. It would be great for the audience.”

Over 40 seasons, Stahl is only the third full-time woman correspondent to have broken into “60′s” boys club, along with Diane Sawyer and Meredith Vieira. At 67, she is the second-youngest member of the crew, behind Steve Kroft, 64.

With face time already at a premium, it may be a while before executive producer Jeff Fager adds a full-timer of either gender.

Still, Stahl says she frequently suggests names of “accomplished women,” not all of them correspondents. “This is kind of a running subject – who’s out there? It’s something that’s tossed around all the time.”

Stahl knows from tossing. Her demanding travel schedule limits her time for wowowow.com, the Web site she co-founded and co-owns.

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The Tax Day Tea Parties were a topic on every Sunday morning show, but the way they were discussed varied between programs.

The most talked about tea party quote came from President Obama’s senior adviser David Axelrod on CBS’ Face the Nation. “The thing that bewilders me is this President just cut taxes for 95% of the American people, so I think the teabags should be directed elsewhere,” he said. Later in the morning, Axelrod’s comments were discussed on CNN’s State of the Union.

On ABC’s This Week, the panel spent nearly nine minutes discussing the parties. “The coverage itself was so politically charged,” said Peggy Noonan. “Liberal newspapers were subtly dismissive, conservative cable news houses were more than subtly supportive.”

David Gregory brought the tea parties up several times on NBC’s Meet the Press, including during his interview with National Economic Council director Larry Summers. “I’ve been surprised by these tea parties,” he said.

On FOX News Sunday, Chris Wallace asked his guests, Sens. Lindsey Graham and Claire McCaskill, for their take, but also brought it up during the panel.

Brit Hume noted it was “ignored by some in the media,” while Juan Williams said, “I think a lot of it is media generated.”

And on Reliable Sources, a heated debate took place over the tea parties. Click continued to see the clip…

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Larry Kudlow revealed a few details this morning on “The Call” about the off-the-record meeting last night between President-elect Barack Obama and many prominent conservatives held at ABC News contributor George Will‘s house.

“This was a good conservative group, and we just had a great back and forth,” he said. “And he wants to keep the dialogue going with conservatives.”

Also at the dinner were Peggy Noonan, Paul Gigot and FNC contributors Bill Kristol and Charles Krauthammer. “He is charming, he is terribly smart, bright, well-informed, he has a great sense of humor,” said Kudlow.

Meanwhile Politico’s Michael Calderone writes about a meeting today between Obama and liberal commentators. MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow was among those in attendance.

Following President-elect Barack Obama‘s interview with CNBC’s John Harwood today, his next interview will be with George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s “This Week.”

It will be his first Sunday morning interview since arriving in Washington, and begins ABC News’ week-long series, “America’s Economy: What’s the Fix?”

Also on the program: Newt Gingrich, Thomas Friedman, Peggy Noonan and George Will.

• Earlier: Common Bond: The Stephanopoulos-Obama Connection

> The morning after the election, viewers flocked to CNN. From 6am-9amET, American Morning topped the other cable news networks with 2.124 million Total Viewers. That compares to Fox and Friends’ 2.103 million and Morning Joe’s 1.212 million. Among A25-54 viewers, CNN remained #1 with 1.021 million, followed by Fox and Friends’ 756k and Morning Joe’s 585k.

> Last week, the Today show’s fourth hour had its best week in eight months. Week-to-week, the Kathie Lee Gifford, Hoda Kotb-anchored hour was up 14% in Total Viewers. Must have been Kathie Lee dressed as the Big Bad Wolf. We’ll have the Morning Show Ratings post tomorrow.

> It appears Oprah Winfrey likes her some Morning Joe. As she introduced Peggy Noonan on her show yesterday, Oprah called Noonan, “a regular guest on ‘Morning Joe,’ love that show.” Later, she even referenced the show: “The other day on ‘Morning Joe’…” Joe Scarborough‘s reaction this morning: “I’m humbled.”