Political Pundits, Overpopulating the News Networks

And those are just the prime-time regulars. All three cable networks have small, standing armies of political journalists, think-tank wonks, ex-pols and vaguely affiliated political figures (typically described on the air as Democratic or Republican "strategists") to provide commentary and predictions at other hours of the day.

Still more demand for punditry comes from the weekend public-affairs programs on the broadcast networks; from public television and radio programs; and from foreign broadcasters, which have shown strong interest in this campaign.

These days, pundits-in-waiting such as Peter Mirijanian don't have to wait long for their phones to ring. Mirijanian, a Democrat who runs his own public relations firm in Washington, estimates that he has been on TV hundreds of times over the past seven years, usually to offer comments about companies or celebrities embroiled in a crisis. Mirijanian says he now gets "two to three" calls a week from TV networks that want him to talk about the presidential race.

Pundits are in such demand that they have to be ready to suit up at any hour. Rachel Sklar, a writer for the Huffington Post Web site, recently detailed her expanding portfolio of TV-commentary assignments on her Facebook page: "Rachel is on CTV in Canada in about 5 mins (at about 9:40 pm)," she wrote. "And on CNN at 2 am, yo. And MSNBC from 3-5 a.m. Super Wednesday slumber party!"

There's the question, of course, of how much wisdom and foresight the pundits truly provide. Many pundits wrote off John McCain's candidacy early on; they suggested Hillary Clinton was doomed after losing in Iowa; and they counted Mike Huckabee out on Super Tuesday, among other miscues.

Commentators have also been called out by media watchdogs for sometimes intemperate commentary. Matthews last month apologized for saying on MSNBC "the reason Hillary Clinton may be a front-runner is her husband messed around." MSNBC guest-host David Shuster earlier this month apologized and was suspended for saying the Clinton campaign was "pimping out" the Clintons' daughter, Chelsea. And Time magazine's Mark Halperin apologized last week for using a crude word to describe John Edwards's assessment of Barack Obama's readiness to be president.

Olbermann sees strengths and weaknesses in having so many voices on a news set. On one hand, he says, having lots of people doling out short bits of commentary can feed "the Short Attention Span Theater that American politics has become." Conversely, "the advantage is, if you rotate all these people, you actually give them significant amounts of time off to think about what's happening. Or call people. Or talk amongst themselves."

It may also be helping the ratings. From late December to mid-February, CNN, Fox and MSNBC collectively recorded a 62 percent increase in their prime-time audience, compared with the same period in the last campaign in 2003-04, according to Nielsen data. During all hours of the day, the increase for the three networks was 73 percent.

So how do the networks go about drafting their pundit teams? Credentials matter. Experience working in or covering a campaign counts, producers say. It also helps if you can expound clearly, crisply and provocatively (which might explain why the cable networks like such talk-radio hosts as Maddow, Martin, Dennis Prager and Ed Schultz, among others).

Mirijanian has worked in two presidential campaigns, but his status as a go-to pundit might be a result of his experience -- as a TV pundit. "Let's face it: The bookers have to fill slots all day," he says. "They're asking themselves, 'Who do I know who can go on, who's reliable, and will do a good job?' "

When assembling a group of pundits, the goal is to create "chemistry" among them, says Bill Wolff, MSNBC's vice president of prime-time programming. "You want folks who like and respect each other, who listen to what the other guy says and then respond in an interesting, fair and compelling way," he says. "You want [viewers] to say, 'They're great together.' There's some degree of luck involved, but as they say, luck is the residue of design."

The networks also strive for balance: "Ideally, you want diversity of experience, diversity of [political views] and a group of people who look completely different from each other," says veteran news producer Tammy Haddad, who consults for the National Journal and Newsweek (owned by The Washington Post Co.). "We're seeing a much broader and deeper rotation of voices in this election, I think. In the old days, it was the same four guys."