For some weeks, Joe Scarborough has been openly teasing his fellow media and political insiders with speculation about whether or not he'll be running for president in 2016. The answer is almost 100 percent certain to be "no," but as long as there's that .01 percent chance, the drama-craving political media will have something to talk about.
"Morning Joe" has also been doing things like running campaign-style videos of Scarborough's trip to all-important New Hampshire, just to stoke the interest.
By Tuesday night, Scarborough appeared to have decided that, while it was fun for a while, he had to put a bit of a damper on things. So he called up the New York Times:
“I’m not running, and I’m not considering running,” Mr. Scarborough, a Republican former congressman and host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” said in a telephone interview on Tuesday from Florida, where he was on spring break with his children. “I’m not making any Shermanesque statements, but I do not expect that to change.”
Of course, since he didn't say he would never, in any circumstances, 10000000 percent not consider maybe possibly someday running for president, the Times' headline read, "‘Morning Joe’ Host Says He Won’t Run in 2016, but He Leaves Door Ajar."
And the dance continues.