Meet The Press & Mike Huckabee: Will He Be McCain's Running Mate? TMZ Asks Him About Barack Obama Joke

A TMZ photographer tracked Mike Huckabee in Washington's Reagan National. The photog asked Huckabee whether he would now have to leave the jokes to Jay Leno and David Letterman after last week's swipe at Barack Obama. "Probably," Huckabee replied. When pushed, Huckabee said, "I feel terrible".

Last week Huckabee told an audience of gun rights supporters an offstage noise was Barack Obama ducking a gunman. "That was Barack Obama, he just tripped off a chair, he's getting ready to speak," Huckabee said. "Somebody aimed a gun at him and he dove for the floor." Huckabee issued a statement apologizing. "I made an off hand remark that was in no way intended to offend or disparage Sen. Obama. I apologize that my comments were offensive. That was never my intention." Here is the comment... and his apology again.

Meantime, today Huckabee appeared as part of the roundtable this morning on 'Meet The Press'. Tim Russert pressed Huckabee to see if he wanted to be John McCain's running mate... in perfect Russert style. Take a look.

While I have blogged once befire about how I dislike the MTP shows driven by hour-long roundtables, I think the show is hitting a high from recent years with solid guests. Guests on this show almost always make news. Russert's quirky, fullscreen graphic style hits home many times. If you read part of Arianna Huffington's book though, she points out how Russert is off the market sometimes. From Media Matters:
"Right is Wrong: How the Lunatic Fringe Hijacked America, Shredded the Constitution, and Made Us All Less Safe" (the book), takes long, page-after-page jabs at NBC Washington bureau chief Tim Russert, portraying him as a hapless, "conventional wisdom zombie." And that it was because of Russert's bruised ego that the company's anti-Huffington edict was issued.

The numbers show the strenth of MTP and Russert. For last week:
Meet the Press: 4,138,000 Total Viewers
This Week 2,514,000 Total Viewers
Face the Nation 2,349,000 Total Viewers
Fox News Sunday 1,147,000 Total Viewers

CHECK OUT OTHER 'MEET THE PRESS' POSTS
Meet the Press: Obama Addresses Wright Issue Again
Meet the Press with Obama, This Week with Clinton
Meet the Press: Why I Turned To This Week