Newt's Zipper Issue

Two CBS executives, who asked not to be identified because they were discussing personnel matters, said the network concluded that Kaplan could give Couric more direction and bring a sharper vision to a program that the brass had come to regard as inconsistent. Couric, in a statement, called the 6-foot-7 Kaplan "a big personality with big ideas."

Couric made a huge publicity splash when she left NBC's top-rated "Today" show after 15 years and, in September, assumed the chair that had been held by Walter Cronkite, Dan Rather and Bob Schieffer.

McManus, the CBS Sports president who also took over the news division last year, has repeatedly said it would take a long time for the "Evening News" to climb out of the cellar. But, he said yesterday, "I'm a little less patient in wanting to see some improvement in the ratings."

Kaplan said the deal was cobbled together in 48 hours without the involvement of his agent. He said he sat down with CBS chief executive Les Moonves before meeting with Couric.

It is a homecoming for Kaplan, who began his career at CBS from 1969 to 1979, including a stint as an "Evening News" producer under Cronkite. While Kaplan was fired by CNN in 2000 and by MSNBC in June, he is widely regarded as one of the most creative -- and demanding -- executives in television.

"He's very inventive, very dynamic, got a million ideas a day, or 10. Three are brilliant, three are terrible, and he needed someone to figure out which are which," said ABC correspondent Sam Donaldson. "He sometimes goes on rampages -- thunders and screams and hollers. He's a big guy, and he intimidates people. I've seen him terrorize people, and later he comes back and apologizes, and he means it."

Tucker Carlson, an MSNBC host who worked for Kaplan at that network and CNN, said that "he thought big. He is a natural showman. He's a guy who understands drama. If he wasn't in television, he'd be a great Broadway producer."

Kaplan, 59, has been lecturing at Harvard and the University of Illinois since fall. A personal friend of Bill Clinton, he drew some criticism for twice sleeping in the Lincoln Bedroom during the Clinton presidency but said it did not affect his journalism.

As Peter Jennings's executive producer at "World News" in the mid-1990s, Kaplan understands the nightly news game. But he said the three network newscasts, which have been losing audience share for a generation, face much tougher competition now from cable news, the Internet and other new media.

"It was easy then to make your program compelling because people had no information until Walter said, 'Good evening,' " Kaplan said. "Today they come armed with an extraordinary amount of information. We all have a responsibility to push these stories ahead."

Couric was quite popular as a morning personality but has been constricted by the limits of a half-hour format. When she has done longer interviews or reported longer pieces, some colleagues have complained that important stories were being dropped or shortchanged.

Hartman spent months planning the "Evening News" launch with Couric and ran the show while commuting to New York from Washington. "This is one of the great jobs in journalism, and it's been an honor and a pleasure to do it every day, although, in all candor, I'd have loved the chance to do it longer," he said yesterday. "But I completely respect Sean's decision."

Hartman said the broadcast "has been improving and will continue to." CBS said he will be given another assignment.

While Hartman, a former "60 Minutes" producer, was loyal to Couric, he occasionally disagreed with her on, for example, her desire to travel to breaking-news stories. Some CBS correspondents grew frustrated as their roles were reduced and said the broadcast lacked a clear identity. Hartman, for his part, had to cope with numerous executives who had conflicting views of what the program needed.

"He has impeccable credentials from a been there/done that perspective, but he's also just an incredibly decent human being," CBS White House correspondent Jim Axelrod said of Hartman. "Everyone feels a bit of sadness that it didn't work out. But everyone knows the business can be brutal at times."

Okay, back to politics: The Washington Times says Chuck Hagel is expected to run.

I've been puzzled as to why Bill Richardson is seen as a second-tier candidate--though he's up from 2 to 5 percent in a new NBC poll!--and have tried to stay away from any whispering campaign. But The Politico takes it on:

"New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson's 2008 presidential campaign has been burdened by unusually public discussion about his behavior with women.

"The lieutenant governor of New Mexico, Diane Denish was quoted in the Albuquerque Journal saying she avoids standing or sitting near Richardson because of his physical manner, which she said was not improper but was 'annoying.' The governor, she said, 'pinches my neck. He touches my hip, my thigh, sort of the side of my leg.'

"On repeated occasions, Richardson has been pressed by reporters or Democratic activists on whether his personal conduct can withstand public scrutiny.

"Richardson, in an interview with The Politico, denied behaving inappropriately, calling the talk 'mean-spirited.' Still, the concerns have become enough of a headwind for Richardson's campaign that the candidate has a more substantive response -- that his personal conduct was vetted, and effectively given a seal of approval, when he was considered for the vice presidential nomination by John F. Kerry in 2004. 'The Kerry people vetted me for vice president,' he told The Politico last week. He knew this, he said, because Jim Johnson, the veteran Washington lawyer and Democratic insider, 'has said so.' "

Does this CQ piece tell you all you need to know about Republican congressional oversight?

"Senior Republicans who knew about problems at Walter Reed Army Medical Center while their party controlled Congress insist they did all they could to prod the Pentagon to fix them.

"But C.W. Bill Young, R-Fla., former chairman of the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, said he stopped short of going public with the hospital's problems to avoid embarrassing the Army while it was fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan."

Oh noooo. Wouldn't want to do that. Better to let soldiers with brain injuries and missing limbs suffer.

All right, time for the obligatory porn item, courtesy of Michelle Malkin:

"Hate-filled liberals on MSNBC attemped to smear Marine Corporal Matt Sanchez and conservatives who honored him at CPAC for his support of the military at Columbia University. They gleefully showed photos of Cpl. Sanchez at the event--including ones I took--in mockery after his gay porn past was outed by left-wing blogs. They cackled 'Semper Fi.'

"I said the other day I thought CPAC organizers would be justified in being embarrassed if the rumors about Sanchez's porn star past 15 years ago turned out to be true. Well, the rumors are true. But it is neither CPAC nor Cpl. Sanchez who should feel embarrassed.

"It's the nasty, gloating liberals who claim to stand for tolerance, privacy, human rights, and compassion. I predicted the other day that left-wing bigotry would rear its ugly head. I was right. The e-mail I've received is more disgusting than anything Ann Coulter stupidly said at CPAC. And I can imagine the vitriol Cpl. Sanchez is enduring.

"We are all fallible people."

Including Newt.