Verne Gay of Newsday apparently took a second helping of the MSNBC Kool-Aid. Not satisfied with a puff-piece on KO but circled back to KO in his obsequious profile of MSNBC.

He was once among the most lauded sportscasters on television (for ESPN) then - pop! - that ended in the early '90s.

KO left ESPN in 1997.

MSNBC now also has a bona fide success story

KO's ratings have been on a one way trip down since Countdown peaked admist the rising tide of MSNBC coverage of the Winter Olympics - in both the all-important-24-54-demo AND the irrelevant ALL demo.

[Olbermann is] a savvy broadcaster-agent provocateur who is drawing 400,000 viewers to "Countdown With Keith Olbermann"

Apparently Gay did not get the memo - that ALL demo doesn't matter (unless KO's numbers in the 25-54 demo are sinking then total viewers is very important - whatever number can be used to flog the show as some kind of "success").

Despite the recent management upheaval, there's even the vaguest sense of stability emanating from its Secaucus headquarters these days

There may be SOMETHING emanating from the swamplands of New Jersey but it sure ain't "stability". In the past few weeks, MSNBC has flipped Scarborough and Cosby in the 9p and 10p slot, cancelled live reporting in the 9a slot in favor of taped Countdown, then skipped Countdown tapes most days since Abrams took over, cancelled the Abrams report, dropped Tucker out of primetime, cancelled Rita Cosby and replaced her with taped "MSNBC investigates" segments. Even setting aside Kaplan being fired, Phil Griffin being brought back and Abrams getting the GM spot, it's hard to see how Gay concludes that there is ANY sense of anything other than more of the same at MSNBC - chaos.

But what does Olbermann, whose contract expires in March, want?

What IS the deal with KO's contract. One day I hear it was extended, the next that he has a new contract and now again that his deal ends during 1Q07. Does anyone know what is really going on with KO's deal with MSNBC?

I will not make any predictions out loud or even in my own brain ... because it has no validity."

Finally, we get a dollop of truth from the MSM and something we can agree on with Keith!

"Countdown," he says with an Olbermanniacal flourish, "is getting vast ratings in the ratings that matter - 25-54, and at 8 I have the second most" after "The O'Reilly Factor."

Maniacal is about right. Sounds like even KO can't say "vast ratings" success with a straight face.

"Countdown?" Olbermann is "on fire. That show needs almost nothing."

Nothing except a relentless PR campaign, major help from a supportive and sympathetic liberal media, mass mailings by political action groups and a blog-based marketing frenzy. All of which has resulted in a ratings DECLINE for Countdown since the March peak.

MSNBC would do well to keep in mind that this did not work for Air America Radio, it has not worked that last three times they tried a PR blitz for KO and it's not working this time (Countdown ratings for total viewers and the 25-54 demo are DOWN since launching phase one of the KO Marketing Campaign in February and DOWN still more since phase two was launched in the wake of the Kaplan firing.)

Even though KO agrees that his predictive ability is not valid, mine is and I am going to predict that Countdown will be beaten like a drum by Zahn in total viewers for July and edge out by Zahn for last place in the 25-54 demo. However, since over all cable news viewers will be up due to the crisis in the Middle East, Countdown ratings will go up (just not as much as CNN and FNC) so you can expect TVN and MSNBC to switch their focus from "the demo" to KO's quarter-on-quarter growth from 2005 and from the low point in 2Q06. Remember, consistant analysis is not the point - boosting KO's liberal agenda is. And, remember, you heard it here first.

UPDATE: J$ noticed this line from the article:

"Countdown," he says with an Olbermanniacal flourish, "is getting vast ratings in the ratings that matter - 25-54, and at 8 I have the second most" after "The O'Reilly Factor."

...by saying "second most after O'Reilly" he's really saying he's THIRD, not SECOND. Because second would be "the most after O'Reilly". What a piece of spin! But then we check the June cable ratings (the latest monthly numbers) and we find:

O'Reilly: 394,000
Zahn: 148,000
Nancy Grace: 137,000
Olbermann: 123,000 (first most after FNC and CNN!!!)