According to Nielsen’s Fast National ratings for Nov. 4, FOX News Sunday with Chris Wallace beat This Week, Face the Nation and Meet the Press in the Washington, D.C. market — for the first time ever. Wallace debuted a new series this past weekend titled, “American Leaders” with an exclusive interview with former President George H. W. Bush.

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Karen Feld recently caught up with Terry McAuliffe in DC as he continues on his non-stop quest to make his new book, “What A Party! My Life Among Democrats: Presidents, Candidates, Donors, Activists, Alligators, and Other Wild Animals,” number one of the New York Times bestseller list. (It’s currently tied at five.)

The former DNC chairman appeared confident that Hillary Clinton will be the next Prez, and he expects his buddy Bill to take on a unique role after the ‘08 election.

“If Hillary wins, it will only enhance Bill’s eight years,” McAuliffe told Feld. “His role as ‘First Gentleman’ will be that of ambassador-at-large.”

He also seems to have grown tired of appearing on traditional news news programs, like Meet the Press, and said The Daily Show is now tops on his list to get political messages out.

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It’s well-known that Andrea Mitchell has always wanted a higher profile within the NBC news division, and sources tell BHDC that the timing is right, if quite a few dominoes fall into place.

Mitchell is expected to be called by the Scooter Libby defense team today to explain why she said more than once that Valerie Plame’s identity was “widely known” even before Robert Novak’s infamous column was published, which outed Plame. 

Oddly, Mitchell said later that that she didn’t know how to explain her comments. But Why would a top-notch reporter like Mitchell suddenly become foggy on such a key question?

One possibility: Libby has said that Tim Russert told him in July 2003 that “all the reporters know” Plame worked for the CIA. But Russert says that’s not true because he didn’t know who Plame was at the time.

Observers are questioning whether Mitchell received the information from her boss, Russert, which would she may have been compelled to cover tracks for him.

If Little Russ ends up in the slammer, Mitchell’s seniority at the network could help her become moderator of Meet the Press. A long shot, but let’s see how this plays out, shall we?

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On Meet the Presss this morn to talk about Barack Obama’s candidacy, the PBS correspondent referred to herself not once, but twice, as the SON of West Indian parents.

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AMC has updated her recent blog entry, titled ”Everyone Hates Chris,” regarding just how much Tim Russert despises the diabetic Hardballer (and possible sexist, according to BHDC’s Mockette):

Just to be clear, not everyone hates Chris Matthews (though apparently many commenters do); I just think there’s something kind of awesome about “Everyone Hates Chris” being a show on the CW network. I am personal a long-time, committed fan of Matthew’s eccentric approach to political chat, n.b.: “ALL PANTS ARE MADE IN CHINA NOW!”

Yeah right, she hates him.

Fave commenter quote so far: “Chris Matthews gets all homoerotic talking about GOP politicians. He is practically orgasmic every time he mentions Bush, Ahnuld, Rudy and McCain, especially McCain. He can’t get over how manly they are. The guy is a classic closet case.”

I can tell you, from parties I’ve attended with both Tim and Chris, the two always offer up a lot of public adoration for each other. But, just like with me and Patrick Gavin, you’ve gotta know that what’s said in public doesn’t mean a lick.

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Another weekend, another Presidential candidate. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee took a nontraditional route in announcing his bid today: he did not post a cheesy soft-lensed video on his Web site. Instead, he talked to Tim Russert on Meet the Press where he was grilled on whether a gay person is born gay, whether Hillary Clinton has a chance at winning, and how his unit measures up to Bill Clinton’s, another former governor from Hope, Arkansas.

Huck said that one of his personal slogans is “born to be mild” (no joke), which no doubt made his handlers quite happy. But we all know that no one who was as fat as Huckabee used to be could ever be mild. He’s so skinny now, he obviously has a cocaine connection and we hear he might even like to throw up his food. New slogan: “I heart Huckabees!”

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In a reversal of what the Illinois Senator said on Meet the Press just a few short months ago, he said on the same show just now that he may change his mind about running for President (Oprah’s that good, folks). Tim Russert also fielded a rumor from one of his panelists that Hillary won’t run in 2008, but Obama will.   

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Tim Russert confused us yesterday when he said that Bob Woodward would be on Meet the Press next week to give his first Sunday interview (it said “exclusive” on the screen graphic). Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that Woodward already gave his first exclusive Sunday interview last night on 60 Minutes. We know that Russert probably meant first Sunday morning show interview, but that’s not what he said.

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We helped the ever-affable Chris Matthews ring in the fifth season of his NBC political talkshow last night on the rooftop of the Hay-Adams Hotel overlooking the White House. The views were spectacular. The drinks were aplenty. And the guest list was gorgeous (We rubbed elbows with Tim Russert, Ben Bradlee, Christopher Hitchens, Roxanne Roberts, Andrew Sullivan, Kelly Ann Collins, Ana Marie Cox, Patrick Gavin, Nora O’Donnell and Jeff Dufour — not to mention Sens. John McCain, John Warner and George Allen.)

Hardball’s David Shuster was nowhere in sight, but he told us before the party that several NBC employees and journalists were not invited in order to keep the event exclusive. Thank goodness, we didn’t want to see the likes of Brian Williams or Matt Lauer in our presence.

The star of the evening, in our humble opinion, was Kathleen Matthews, whom Chris kept calling his “queen.” Amidst a speech in which he noted how happy he was to have the time slot before Russert’s Meet the Press, he asked Kathleen to join him on the stage. Not wanting to steal his spotlight, she politely declined. When we talked to the lovely local anchor, we asked about her looming departure from WJLA and her new gig with Marriot Hotels. She said she was excited. We rolled our eyes (a little) and told her that she should have pursued Meredith Vieira’s position on Today. She seemed delighted, telling Chris all about it when he joined us for a pic. We then took some napkins that said “The Chris Matthews Show” and went on our merry way.

(Amy Artgetsinger and Roberts provide a nice summary of the event in today’s Reliable Source, even calling Chris a “big old Saint Bernard.”

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