The Daily Rundown

As part of two-year re-branding ad campaign, the liberal cable news network MSNBC has begun using the tag line "lean forward."

Savannah Guthrie, co-host of the 9 AM MSNBC political show 'The Daily Rundown,' appeared on 'Morning Joe' (weekdays, 6 AM on MSNBC) Monday, and it gave the gang an opportunity to have fun with the new slogan.

As Joe Scarborough reminded viewers to check out the 'The Daily Rundown' 'after 'Morning Joe' was finished, a promotional picture of Guthrie and her co-host Chuck Todd appeared on the screen.

"That's a snazzy shot by the way," Scarborough commented. "Sort of a prom picture."

"Chuck's leaning forward a little too much," Willie Geist quipped, in reference to how close the two anchors were standing to each other in the photo.

Something the tells us this is just the first of many, many "lean forward" jokes.

Rick Sanchez is one of those CNN personalities -- it's hard to call him a news reporter -- who doesn't really fit the mold. He never fit the mold as a local guy down here in South Florida either. However, CNN seems to believe that Rick has an appeal. That said, CNN will give Rick Sanchez a new show in just a few weeks. Commencing January 18, 2010, Rick's List will be a daily two-hour installment of Rich Sanchez. The timing is interesting because they're cutting an hour into Wolf Blitzer's The Situation Room.

This actually makes sense. The Situation Room is very political and during the campaign and the election, the ratings were high. We're in a post-election period now and will be for a while.

The CNN idea is to fill the afternoon with more fluff and general interest news, the kind of stuff Rick Sanchez is better suited to handle. He can talk about lists for hours, taking calls, reading Tweets and vamping. The man enjoys the sound of his own voice.