Rachel Rocks: Maddow Meets The Press.

"Lefty" label or not, when NBC was struggling with their pick to replace Tim Russert on Meet the Press, I'd have chosen Rachel Maddow.

She's smart and fair and not given to TV histrionics--even on cable. And it seems that MTP viewers like her, too

Here's Danny Shea on HuffPo with some TV numbers

"Meet the Press" had a convincing win this past Sunday, taking the top spot among Sunday talk shows with an average of 3.140 million total viewers. That's 17.6% more than second-place "Face The Nation" (2.670 million) and 19.3% more than third-place "This Week" (2.630 million). "Fox News Sunday" averaged 1.190 million total viewers.

"Meet the Press," moderated by David Gregory, featured US Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice and a roundtable including The New York Times' David Brooks, The Washington Post's E.J. Dionne, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, and Republican strategist Mike Murphy.

It was Maddow's second appearance — the first, on August 16, drew 3.359 million total viewers for the show's highest delivery since April.

"Meet the Press" has now won nine consecutive weeks since falling to ABC's "This Week" on August 2.

In a related story, FOX News buffoon Chris Wallace was just handed next Sunday's questions by fellow FOX intern Jesse Watters.