I witnessed this exchange on Hardball last night:

MATTHEWS: You think he’s quite the kind of guy that can do that kind of thing. Let me ask you about the-you’re a politician. You’ve been elected to a lot of offices over the years-governor and Congress before that for so many years. Do you think he has a legitimate hold on the people? Or they will, as the advocates of this war have said so long from our side, they will collaborate, they will celebrate, they will cheer our arrival.
RICHARDSON: I think it’s mixed, Chris. I mean, I’ve seen some of those crowds that seem to generate in demonstrations. When I was in Iraq, I sensed that he did have some support. I suspect that support is waning and what you’re seeing in the Iraqi population is God, we want to get rid of this guy simply because the instability is so enormous. I wouldn’t say that there’s going to be shouting in the streets of glee, but I think his support is probably 50-50 if you know you could ever do a poll there...
MATTHEWS: Yes.
RICHARDSON: ... because he does have the armed forces there. The rural areas are with him, and I believe that, you know, he’s used skillfully public relations when you control the media totally to build a cultic personality around him.
MATTHEWS: If he were allowed to stick around through this war and participate in the next election in Iraq, do you think he’d have a shot?
RICHARDSON: No, I don’t think so. I think they’d want to get rid of him, but we cannot underestimate him.

Is Chris Matthews actually asking if Saddam would win an election if he survives this? He isn't so blinded by his ideology that he can't believe that Saddam's 100% vote was out of pure fear of him? I almost fell out of bed when I heard that. Chris is notorious for softballing friends but Jeez.