After months of waffling, Chris Matthews brought the speculation over whether he’d run for the Senate in 2010 to an end today when he told staffers of Hardball today that his name is officially out of the hat. Matthews has been flirting with running for Arlen Specter’s seat in Pennsylvania for much of the past year. He held meetings with political operatives, looked into moving to the state and had extensive discussions with family and friends. Some speculated that the fair-haired talking head was flirting with the run in order to gain leverage in contract negotiations with MSNBC. He’s currently working on a new deal with the network that is likely to dwarf the $5 million a year he is currently making.
