Everyone calm down (You too, Chris Matthews)

On Hardball tonight, Chris Matthews—remember, that guy who almost ran for Senate himself?—was talking about Arlen Specter’s switch to the Democrats, and for a moment, he seemed to be calling the race… 18 months before Election Day.

“Didn’t he just win reelection today?” Matthews asked Michael Smerconish.

Look, I know everyone’s been freaking out. Me, I haven’t stopped thinking about this since the second it broke.

But let’s get some perspective here. It’s fine to say Specter is the favorite (though that would have been unimaginable 12 hours ago). I’ll go along with that.

But we still have to have a primary and a general election. A lot can happen in a year-and-a-half. So everyone, breathe. Maybe go outside. I could sure use some air.

But I have to keep track of all the crazy things people are saying about Arlen Specter…