"I can stay up till 11 without getting very tired"

No, you can stay up till 1:52 to navel-gaze on your blog! You'll notice that Yglesias made the same post, Ezra, but he filed it under "self-indulgence."

On the other hand, directing my attention to this list allows me to tilt my nose and tell my friends, "*I* only read the most influential liberals!"

However, they snubbed you, Ezra -- they made a big deal about Yglesias only being 28, but made no mention of how you're 2 years younger!

Neat how they put your foodie idol Pollan on there, though.

By the way, doesn't Josh Marshall look like a priest in his photo? Maybe he's a member of Hendrik Hertzberg's "East Coast liberal 'high church,'" whatever that is.

Some offensive lines on this dodgy list:
Re: dailykos.com: "where progressives gripe and call for reform"

Re: Sullivan: "his tendency to view virtually everything through a 'gay' prism"

Re: Krugman: "Last year's Nobel in economics was widely seen as a vindication of his politics." Yeah, it couldn't be his actual economics, could it?

Actually the term, I'm pretty sure, is "shoo-in." But that's okay, because on TV no one can hear you spell!

I think Steve Benen already called dibs (see the tenth item). Sorry.

Sullivan, Dowd, and Friedman definitely are not liberals and I have my doubts about Huffington and Hitchens.
Forbes really seems to like conservatives who now pass themselves off as progressive.

First of all, why "one" host? Why not a pair? Don't think Hannity and Colmes, think Kornheiser and Wilbon on Pardon The Interruption.

Second, they should have a competitive reality-tv show wherin they take fifteen young liberal pundits and have them duke it out. Winner gets the slot

It would be awesome if you were on MSNBC and did half of what you do on this blog. Just please don't flash one of those horrible liberal, smug smiles like Olberman and Maddow. When I see them, I start to understand the anti-elite bias of the right.

Most people tuning in to Klein at 10 would just assume Maddow changed her clothes to do a 2nd show.

Friedman? Seriously, Friedman?

Any list of liberals that includes Tom Friedman and Christopher "Lush" Hitchens on it is a piece of crap. So don't pat yourself on the back.

It's about time 10pm was something other than a repeat! After Oberson and Maddow, both perfect for their spots ( although Oberson being called perfect is siad with a wince) maybe we're ready for something that woud follow and provide a different look while still having a liberal :edge."

Friedman and Hitchens as liberals? Not sure that list is worth a whole lot.

Will you do a food segment? All I ask is: No Martha Stewart. If you do Martha Stewart on your show (you know what I mean), I'm outa here.

It could be green food. I don't care. Just leave Martha out of it.

Well, good luck, Ezra, but unfortunately--since it is television--they will probably be looking for someone better looking than you.

Matt Yglesias is higher on the list than you, but I think you are better on television and health care will be a big issue this year.

Yes, because if there's something MSNBC doesn't have enough of, it would have to be liberals...

It's obviously going to be Kevin Drum.

Definitely "shoo-in". OED on shoo: "an exclamation used to frighten or drive away birds or other intruders", first citation from 1483 but as it's common to German and Italian, surely older, perhaps part of the Indo-European toolkit. Shoo-in as a verb is from 1908, to fix a winner in a horse race, shoed or not.

This post made me laugh. I think I'm developing a crush on you, Ezra. Maybe if you get the gig you'll become the object of desire for middle-aged moms all across America. Not that that's something you'd want...

Many interesting people on Forbes' list - but Andrew Sullivan, Maureen Dowd, Fred Hiatt, Tom Friedman, Christopher Hitchens liberals? And is someone who put Bill Kristol and David Brooks on the NYT op-ed page liberal? And, hey, where are real liberals like E.J. Dionne and the invaluable Harold Meyerson?

Where is Keith Olbermann on the list? Tom Friedman? Are u serious? This is the same guy who wanted to shut down the American auto agencies! Hitchens, Bush's cheerleader on terrorism? Oprah? Are u kidding me? I don't remember her using her political capital for anybody or anything other than Obama. This list sounds fishy... and I'm beginning to doubt Ezra too on some issues like welfare and living wage and SINGLE PAYER!!! Speaking of which, watch Che the movie :).

In addition to complaints about Dowd and Friedman I would also add Fred Hiatt. Fred Hiatt? Seriously? Also, I too have my doubts about Huffington and Hitchens. Moreover, while Sullivan has done yeoman's work on torture and gay rights, he is a sui generis conservative. Also, while Zakaria is pretty awesome, he is fairly centrist and probably thinks of himself as a centrist realist.

No really. Leverage the housewife thing. TV execs like casting pretty people. Rock the tan, loose the glasses and get yourself a few Hugo Boss suits. The wonkery will more than compensate. Now is no time for fig leafs.

Therese -- yeah, I so already have a crush on Ezra. And I'm in my 20s, so I imagine it goes all across the age spectrum...

Man, I'd really love to read that list. You'd think a web team would have figured out by now that I'm not going to click through 25 pages to read a "top whatever" article.

Sullivan, Hitchens, Dowd, Hiatt, Matthews, Zakharia, and Friedman? Really?

1. Joe Scarborough will have to go to four hours to maintain the lack of balance at MSNBC.

2. This is clearly why we need a playoff in punditry. There's no way Ezra Klein is ranked lower on a list of influential liberals than neoconservative Fred Hiatt.

If I had cable, I would watch Ezra's show.

I think you should just be the host of Oprah from now on.

Shoo-in. Definitely shoo-in.

10 PM Eastern is a cuspie hour. Don't forget that Fox channels nationwide are into local news at 10. The late night shows at 11 or later are not serious anything except fluff.

So, at 10, you would be up against local news, the best adult stuff that CBS, NBC and ABC can afford to buy and MSNBC having shot its wad with Mathews/Hardball, Olbermann, and Maddow for 3 hours.

Besides, they are not going to pick a face not known to TV audiences, no matter how cheap (cue the story about negotiating the fee for a prostitute starting with the $1 Million offer, down to $50.)

I predict David Shuster will be thrown to the lions, and get eaten. He's expendible and 'next in line'. And cheap (and overweight).

What's needed is some real red meat to draw and keep attention, not some wonkery. Jonah Goldberg?

Remember back a few years ago, when we all complained that people with any serious media credibility had failed their way into their positions? How only the people who were wrong about everything important were taken seriously?

Now here we are, at the beginning of an era that will see new people gaining serious media credibility, and it would seem that most of them have been wrong about everything important?

Iraq War? Great idea, according to Ezra, Yglesias, Josh Marshall, etc.

TARP bailout? Great idea, according to Ezra, Yglesias, Josh Marshall, etc.

Yeah, let's put all these guys on TV.

@JimPortlandOR

Yes! But not a talk show. A sitcom. The lead "Ezra" is a young liberal blogger trying to make it in the big city. His roomate is a wingnut named "Jonah." There crazy but loveable landlord Marty is always popping in and saying crazy things. Funny stuff then happens! Now we only need a name...

Oh Ezra- I would miss you if you went to the big leagues.

I'm still holding out hope that we'll meet randomly one day at the Hawk and Dove and have a deeply wonky conversation about the donut hole.

Remember us, oh rising star, when you get to the shiny big MSNBC in the sky.

Also, I would miss your skill of telegraphing sarcasm through writing. I haven't quite mastered that yet.

Ezra's hot; I'd tune in. Of course, I nearly swooned when I saw him that one time in Mount Pleasant, so I'm an easy mark.

Non-liberals on the list include Sullivan, Hitchens, Zakaria, and Hiatt (with a couple of borderliners like Friedman, Matthews, and Dowd).

The second thing that struck me about the list is that 1/3 of the people on it (and a higher percentage of the liberals on the list) are based outside of the big, traditionally influential media outlets: Drum, Greenwald, Klein, Yglesias, Moulitsas, Marshall, a couple others I'm forgetting.

Damn, Ezra...you've already got at least a couple (self-titled) middle-age-moms on your tail. Not the worst thing that could happen to you, I hope you know.

Those of us who are single middle-age-dads are seriously jealous...

Not only middle-aged moms, or 20-something women have a crush on Ezra. I'm a mid-20s heterosexual male, and even I have a crush on Ezra.

Congratulations!

The wack-job bloggers you left behind on Pandagon have exactly NO influence.

Exactly why you should do more appearances on Bloggingheads.tv to practice for MSNBC.

good luck with that gig, but if past history is any indication, we'll have to see one of the so-called "liberals" from that list, not an actual liberal.

Something tells me the 2-3 people you consider non-liberals are actually the only liberals on the list, while the rest are just leftists.