Hardbrawl

(Richard A. Lipski - The Washington Post)

But Matthews still reveres his former profession. Phil Griffin, the onetime Matthews producer who runs MSNBC, recalls making a dismissive remark about Washington when they first met a decade ago. "He said, 'No, you don't get it. These people give up their lives; they care so much about making America a better place.' "

As Matthews grew more prominent, his tightly coiled style became fodder for Darrell Hammond of "Saturday Night Live," who soon got an invitation to appear on "Hardball."

At times, Matthews told the impersonator, "I find myself locking into you. I find myself doing Darrell Hammond doing me, because it's sort of comfortable to get into that sort of slipstream of the way you do me. Isn't that weird?"

"Yes, that's weird," Hammond agreed.

The son of a Philadelphia court stenographer, Matthews served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Swaziland, arriving in Washington three decades ago with a patronage job as a gun-toting Capitol Police officer. After years of smoking and drinking, he quit both, swearing off liquor in 1994. Over the years, though, he kept ignoring a troublesome medical diagnosis.

In December, after a day of entertaining at his Nantucket vacation home that included, despite his wife's warning, a bacon cheeseburger and fettucine Alfredo, Matthews was rushed to the emergency room with complications from diabetes. He was off the air for two weeks.

"If all your life you're afraid of needles, and you're afraid of blood, and you're notoriously afraid of doctors, you put things off you shouldn't put off," he says. Matthews has since dropped 35 pounds and injects himself with insulin four times a day.

At times, his natural confidence turns into condescension. At an industry luncheon in 2002, Matthews chided Ted Koppel for working three days a week at ABC's "Nightline," saying: "I think we in the cable business have overtaken them. . . . Koppel, if you can't make it in the market, go work for public television for 200 [thousand] a year instead of $7 million." He also took a swipe at Jim Lehrer's PBS "NewsHour," saying: "What is it, eight hours long? I never sat all the way through it." Matthews later apologized to both men.

He does not enjoy being on the receiving end. When Jon Stewart mocked his book "Life's a Campaign" -- "I'm not trashing your book, I'm trashing your philosophy of life," the comedian told him -- Matthews grumbled for weeks about what he called the "book interview from hell."

He works a backbreaking schedule these days. He co-anchored late on Tuesday night for the Potomac primaries, for instance, and then appeared on "Morning Joe" early yesterday. Sometimes he anchors coverage in mid-afternoon, and he also hosts a syndicated Sunday show.

His mind wanders the cultural landscape, often leaving guests speechless, as he compares Obama to Lawrence of Arabia one day and Mozart the next. He meanders through metaphors, switching yesterday from football (Clinton lacks a ground game) to basketball (Clinton needs to keep fouling Obama as the game winds down) before reverting to old-school pol (Clinton must "get the Irish guys to work the neighborhood").

And he loves taking chances: Talking about the Republicans with Jay Leno, Matthews announced, "Here is where I get into trouble," before comparing the candidates with various Iraqi factions, complete with "Shiite wing fanatics."