Hardball Big Number
On Friday's "Hardball" Chris Matthews explained why 365 is the Hardball Big Number of the day.
"Americans, as we know, are ready to see a change in the White House. A lot of people think this country is stuck in a rut, on all kinds of matters, like the Iraq war, the weakening economy and they want change. So for all of you out there desperately waiting for something new, there are 365 days left in office for President Bush after this weekend
After this weekend, that's the number of days President Bush still has in office. Exactly one year and not a day more." Watch video
On Thursday's "Hardball," Chris Matthews explained why 126 was the Hardball Big Number of the day.
"For weeks now, we've been hearing that Rudy Giuliani plans to begin his winning streak in Florida and that he never really cared about Iowa and New Hampshire. Could Rudy end up winning in Florida? Sure. But let's get straight on the facts here. Rudy absolutely cared about New Hampshire, and he tried hard to win it.
The proof is in tonight's big number. How many events did Giuliani hold up there through primary day, according to an ABC News tally? A whopping 126 events. That's more than John McCain's 104. Only Mitt Romney held more." Watch video
On Wednesday's "Hardball," Chris Matthews explained why seven was the Hardball Big Number of the day.
"John Edwards, who lost in Iowa and lost in New Hampshire, showed good signs of life in last night's Democratic debate. And how did he do that? By turning his campaign into something, well, personal. John Edwards said "personal" seven times in last night's debate" Watch video
On Tuesday's "Hardball," Chris Matthews explained why 56 was the Hardball Big Number of the day.
"In the Republican field, Mike Huckabee has a big win in Iowa and Sen. John McCain has a big win in New Hampshire. Imagine for a moment if Mitt Romney wins tonight in Michigan. That would mean three big contests, three big winners. A wide open field. It might be a longshot, but at the very least, it begs the question: Could we wind up with a brokered convention later this year?
Talk about political excitement. When was the last time something like that happened? Not since 1952. Fifty six years since the last brokered convention and 56 years since the last brokered convention of smoke filled rooms. Who knows? It might happen this time. Will they let them smoke?" Watch video
On Monday's "Hardball," Chris Matthews explained why three was the Hardball Big Number of the day.
"As you know by now, Sen. Barack Obama admits in his memoir that he used cocaine when he was growing up. Even if you haven't read the book, you probably know about it because the Clinton campaign told you!
First, it was Billy Shaheen, Clinton's national co-chair, who brought up the cocaine issue. He resigned from the campaign afterward but not before the damage had been done. Then it was campaign advisor Mark Penn, who brought up the cocaine issue right here on Hardball. Now, as we mentioned earlier in the show, it's influential Clinton backer and BET founder Bob Johnson, who brought it up yet again. How many times is that in total?
Three. Three mentions of Obama's cocaine use for political gain. Three." Watch video
On Friday's "Hardball," Chris Matthews explained why 10 was the Hardball Big Number of the day.
"Mike Huckabee, a man with no foreign policy experience, thinks the best way to engage the world is by threatening the potential enemy with the gates of hell. Are we all learning to talk like jihadists now? On an irresponsibility scale from one to ten, Huckabee's threat is a ten. The height of irresponsibility." Watch video
On Thursday's "Hardball," Chris Matthews explained why 26 was the Hardball Big Number of the day.
"Rudy Giuliani has an interesting and well-known strategy to win the Republican nomination. He says it starts in Florida on January 29th and no voting before that matters. He even has a new ad out to back it up.
So, with Rudy's new ad in mind, the Hardball Big Number is 26. Twenty-six days between the Iowa caucuses and the Florida primary. Twenty-six days for Rudy Giuliani with "no" wins, "no" bragging rights, and no "mo." If Rudy survives that span and proves that his plan worked, then that number is bigger than "big," it's "huge." It's the new measure of political rope-a-dope! Watch video
On Wednesday's "Hardball," Chris Matthews explained why eight was the Hardball Big Number of the day.
"Iowa is behind us, New Hampshire is behind us. And the bottom line is that this presidential race is wide open. Anything can happen; so many candidates have at least SOME chance of winning the White House. Clinton, Obama, Edwards, Huckabee, McCain, Romney, Giuliani, Thompson. Eight candidates still in the fight, eight candidates in real contention." Watch video
On Tuesday's "Hardball," Chris Matthews explained why zero was the Hardball Big Number of the day.
"There's no doubt that Sen. Barack Obama has the big mo', but can he keep it going? Maybe yes, maybe no. But consider this little number, which Obama is no doubt, enjoying. The number of times since 1972 a presidential candidate has won both Iowa and New Hampshire but lost his party's nomination? Zero. Zero times. Zip. Nadda. Forget-about-it. Zero. Watch Video
On Monday's "Hardball," Chris Matthews explained why 103 was the Hardball Big Number of the day.
"Have you noticed a certain "C" word that keeps popping up on the campaign trail? During Saturday night's Democratic debate, Hillary mentioned the world "change" ten times in just one response.
And by no means was Hillary the only one. In both the Democratic and Republican debates this weekend, the word change was mentioned 103 times!" Watch video
