Tuckered Out: Pundit Carlson's 'Presidential Bid' Comes to an End

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By Matt Haber

May 26, 2008 | 1:16 p.m

Could Tucker Carlson dance his way into politics? Last week, The New York Times' Opinionator blog wondered just that, noting, "the former 'Crossfire' host and former writer for The Weekly Standard, among other magazines, may seek the nomination of the Libertarian Party, according to a rumor making the rounds among delegates to the Libertarian convention, which is being held in Denver this weekend."

Crazy? Sure, but for a moment, some serious people were thinking about the idea semi-seriously: The Atlantic's Ross Douthat wrote

I can't imagine that the sort of people who attend the Libertarian Party's convention would have any interest in handing their nomination over to Tucker Carlson. But as someone who thinks we need more Pat Buchanan-style (or Boris Johnson-style, to take a more successful example) crossovers from political journalism to actual politics, I'm all for his giving it a try.

Predictably, the commenters on that post were not kind to Mr. Carlson, but one person named Derek was open-minded: "I actually like Tucker and enjoyed his show (it's unfortunate it was cancelled). He seems like a sensible small-government conservative type and was openly rooting for Ron Paul this past year. I'd gladly cast a vote for him over McCain or Obama." (The comment immediately following that one: "Why is Tucker's mom posting here under the name 'Derek'?")

Reason's Nick Gillespie also saw fit to weigh in, noting, "The blogosphere is abuzz with rumors that former MSNBC talk show host Tucker Carlson may be gearing up for a last-minute run at the Libertarian Party presidential nomination." ("Tucker Carlson? The conservative shill? The eternal frat boy? WTF?" asked one commenter.)

The Draft Tucker campaign appears to have come to abrupt end, brought on by Jake Tapper at ABC News, who wrote, "Tucker, whom I should disclose is a good friend, would be loads of fun to cover on the stump, but he is probably too honest to actually win an election."

Mr. Tapper revealed that Mr. Carlson emailed to say he wouldn't be running for President, thus ending the Draft Tucker campaign after only a few days. But there may still be some hope: The same day Mr. Tapper shared his email from Mr. Carlson, the Opinionator asked, "If Carlson isn’t running, who keeps calling Michael Munger, asking him if he supports a Carlson candidacy?"