Jim Matthews

It's a safe bet that everytime MSNBC commentator Chris Matthews schmoozes with local politicians from now on, people will wonder if he's getting ready for his rumored 2010 Senate run against Arlen Specter.

Matthews is on the campaign trail with Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, and as Politico's Michael Calderone notes, the Hardball host made time Sunday to glad-hand Gov. Ed Rendell and Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter.

This comes more than a month after Matthews turned heads at breakfast for Pennsylvania delegates to the Democratic convention in Denver. That morning, he couldn't quite explain to PolitickerPA.com how or when he would decide whether or not to take on Specter, the moderate Republican and longtime senior U.S. Senator.

"I don't have an answer; I haven't gone through that," Matthews said at the time.

The next week, Montgomery County Commissioner Jim Matthews put his brother's odds of deciding to run against Specter at 25 percent.

Specter is known as a fierce political opponent; a poll in August showed him narrowly leading Matthews in a potential matchup. 

Montgomery County Commissioner Jim Matthews may have said yesterday he would vote for his brother Chris if Chris decided to run for US Senate in Pennsylvania, but that doesn't mean they agree on many issues.  The two squared off today on Morning Joe in MSNBC with Jim disagreeing with Chris on many of his points.  

MINNETONKA, Minn. -- Rumors of a potential Senate run for MSNBC host Chris Matthews have been the buzz of Pennsylvania politics for the last several months.

His brother Jim Matthews, a Republican commissioner in Montgomery County, told PolitickerPA.com Tuesday that those hoping for such a campaign shouldn't hold their breath.

Jim Matthews pegged his brothers chances at running against U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Philadelphia) at 25 percent.

Most observers have thought his chances were 50/50, but Jim Matthews said his brother might be angling for a better deal at MSNBC, where his contract is nearly expired. The commissioner said he thinks his brother wants a seven-year deal from the network.

Chris Matthews' reluctance to run against Specter, who would be a very difficult opponent for any challenger, also stems from the fact he loves his current job, Jim Matthews said.

"It's his favorite job in the world," the Republican Matthews said.

MINNETONKA, Minn. -- Montgomery County Republican Commissioner Jim Matthews said comments he made earlier Tuesday that he would support his brother, MSNBC host Chris Matthews, over U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Philadelphia) in a potential 2010 Senate matchup have been blown out of proportion.

The remarks drew criticism from the conservative blog GrassrootsPA.com, where many of the site's readers questioned why Matthews was even labeled a Republican anymore.

But Matthews told PolitickerPA.com he was careful to say only he would "vote" for his brother, and only after MSNBC host Joe Scarborough prodded him several times. His vote does not mean he'll campaign against his friend Specter.

"Of course I'll vote for my brother," Matthews said while sitting in the lobby of the Pennsylvania delegation's Southwest Marriott hotel. "I want to meet the guy who wouldn't vote for his brother."

I received an email from a prominent Montgomery County activist towards the end of last week saying County Commissioner Bruce Castor was at fault for the Jim Matthews/Joe Hoeffel bi-partisan coalition because Castor first went to Hoeffel and offered the same deal.  After talking to Commissioner Hoeffel we can confirm that rumor is just that, a rumor. 

So what was the story behind the deal that was struck to share power when there are two Republicans and one Democratic County Commissioner?

NORRISTOWN - While announcing a voter registration drive he hopes will bring recently departed Republicans back to the GOP, Montgomery County Republican Committee Chairman Robert Kerns took an opportunity to again invite back the party's most high-profile defector: County Commissioner Jim Matthews.

Ever since Matthews, a Republican, formed a power-sharing agreement with fellow commissioner Joe Hoeffel, a Democrat, Republican Commissioner Bruce Castor has been cut out of power, and the GOP has had trouble controlling the county agenda. The political battle has pained county Republicans.

Appearing at the county courthouse here Tuesday afternoon, Kerns said: "What Jim Matthews did is what he decided to do-we're working on bringing him back."

Asked to clarify following the brief news conference, Kerns did not point to specific efforts being made to court Matthews but said it was up to Matthews to "show that he wants to work with Bruce."

"What we're trying to show is the Republican Party is open," he said.

It's been a frustrating six months for Republican Bruce Castor. The former Montgomery County District Attorney was elected to a county commissioner's seat last year, but he had barely taken office when he found himself cut off from political power, the victim of a bipartisan power-sharing agreement between his two colleagues.

Still, even as Republican Joe Hoeffel and Democrat Jim Matthews have left Castor as the odd man out on the three-member county board, Castor has kept talking, and kept pushing his agenda, even if he lacks the power to carry it out.

His latest salvo: an appearance on the Norristown courthouse steps Tuesday where he again lambasted his fellow commissioners while presenting his own policy agenda.

"I am disappointed to say that I don't believe that we can point to any accomplishments whatsoever of any significant nature in those six months," Castor said, according to The Inquirer.

Castor was joined by more than a dozen top county Republicans, but not his fellow commissioner, The Inquirer reports.

Both Matthews and Hoeffel defended themselves against assertions that little progress had been made.

"We've done some very important things in very large areas that Bruce has either not participated in or has opposed," Hoeffel told The Inquirer.