Hagel casts himself into obscurity

Senator Hagel's non-announcement that he is going to think about running for president was so ineptly handled that he may have lost his base - the media. No one else out there cares a bit about Chuck Hagel. But the media adore him because he is that creature most desired for Sunday talk shows - a Republican who will criticize other Republicans. So when the word went out that he had an annoucnement to make yesterday, media types all traveled out to Nebraska to wait breathlessly for whatever Chuck the Pure had to say and the 24 hour news cable shows showed his announcement live. But then he had nothing to say just that he's going to think a while longer about running for president. It was about as exciting as Geraldo Rivera opening Al Capone's vault. He may well have ticked off the last remaining people outside of Nebraska who had any interest in his political fortunes.

Dana Milbank has some fun reporting on the non-announcement.

The 19th-century German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was a giant in the field of logic. The 21st-century philosopher Chuck Hagel? Not so much.

The Republican senator from Nebraska, flirting with a 2008 presidential run, scheduled "an announcement on my political future" for yesterday morning in Omaha. Media types flew in from across the country. The state's governor and attorney general, along with 15 television cameras, crowded the room. Cable networks carried the event live while pundits went wild: Would Hagel jump into the race? Run for reelection? Become an independent? Quit politics entirely?

"I'm here today to announce that my family and I will make a decision on my political future later this year," Hagel declared in front of a presidential-blue curtain.

That was the announcement? The cable networks quickly broke away. The reporters in Omaha were feeling had.

They're not going to be eager about returning to the the Hagel non-campaign any time soon.

In fact, Senator Hagel will have to do some serious Bush-bashing if he's going to want more headlines any time soon.