From Brian Stelter's February 14 New York Times report:

Television and politics have always been intertwined, but never to this degree, TV executives and journalism professionals say. It would seem that the so-called revolving door for political operatives has been extended to the politicians themselves, at a time when cable news is more politically charged than ever.

To viewers, it seems to be an endless televised political campaign, with former, and possibly future, politicians biding their time giving sound-bite versions of stump speeches. (Mr. Huckabee's recap of President Obama's State of the Union: “rudderless confusion.” Ms. Palin's perception of Mr. Obama's counterterrorism strategy: “lackadaisical.”)

The benefit for the part-time, but highly paid, pundits is clear: it increases their visibility. “It makes sense for candidates to seek out positions in niche cable, because it is a direct pipeline to voters,” said Jonathan Wald, a former senior vice president at CNBC and an adjunct professor at Columbia's journalism school. “It's an automatic affinity group.”

The benefit to the viewers is less clear. Some experts say the arrangements can cloud the objectivity of the news organizations.

“As long as they are still newsmakers, there is a strong potential for conflict,” said Andy Schotz, the chairman of the ethics committee for the Society of Professional Journalists. At the very least, it can amount to an advantage for the analysts, and create a perception of favoritism.

“It's a little awkward,” said David Bohrman, the Washington bureau chief for CNN. The networks that employ the analysts “probably ought to realize that they're being taken advantage of a little bit,” because some of the people are “posturing for election advantage,” he said.

None of the analysts in CNN's stable are likely to run for office in 2010 or 2012, and the same is generally true for the broadcast networks. But MSNBC until recently had Mr. Ford on the payroll, and Fox News has a veritable bullpen of potential conservative candidates.

[...]

When Mr. Kudlow was said to be considering a run for Senate in Connecticut last year, the liberal media watchdog group Media Matters fired off a letter to CNBC demanding clarity about his on- and off-air roles. “As a private citizen, Mr. Kudlow has a right to explore a run for public office, but using his platform as a CNBC host to further his political ambitions jeopardizes the integrity of your network,” the letter stated.

Mr. Kudlow soon declared on television that he would not run. Also last year, Chris Matthews chose to stay at MSNBC rather than run for the Senate from Pennsylvania, but not before similar complaints were filed.

“If you're seriously examining a run for office,” Mr. Griffin said, “you can't host a show or be a general analyst.”