Coming soon: A filibuster-proof Senate majority led by Stuart Smalley and a guy known to refer to Hillary Clinton as “the Al Sharpton of white people.” Wonderful.

55 percent say they don’t know enough to form an opinion, which is amazing given that (a) it means the race is close based on almost nothing more than party identification even though Specter’s approval rating is a healthy 55/26, and (b) in light of Hardball’s ratings, you’d think the number unfamiliar with him would be closer to, oh, 98 percent.

I’m all for the idea of him running, incidentally. We’ll be deep enough in the hole by 2010 that losing another Senate seat won’t matter and it’ll be nice to see a man squirm who once defended his amnesty vote by noting that the people at his gym thought it was a swell idea. Besides, there’ll be no more entertaining campaigner than Matthews — a new gaffe at every stop as his mind races to keep up with his mouth, a new “Hardball” lowlight reel issued by the NRSC every week as they sift through and stitch together years of bon mots. He’ll lose by 15 points but every minute will have been worth it. There’s almost no other media figure I’d rather see run, in fact. Emphasis: Almost.