Chuck Todd Defends Wife's Political Connections And Defines His Show's Audience

By Chris Stigall

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- One person's job should have no effect on the career of their spouse, at least according to "Meet The Press" host Chuck Todd. He was speaking in defense of his wife, Kristian, who is a Democratic strategist for former Senator Jim Webb while he is contemplating a possible 2016 presidential campaign.

Todd was speaking with WPHT morning host, Chris Stigall to promote his new book The Stranger: Barack Obama in the White House but conversation quickly turned to how his wife's new job will affect him as host of a Sunday show and NBC political director.

"We're two grown adults. Is the idea that she can't have her own career? I mean look, and the end of the day she's not getting paid by him, she's not going to work on his presidential campaign. I do always disclose that stuff. I know that it has no influence on me. I think that it's pretty unfair to her that somehow what I do for a living is going to make it so she can't have her own career. There's something wrong with that."

While feeling the same pressure that he thinks other newscasts are under to discuss what is "buzzy" and "people are talking about at the water coolers," Todd went on to describe who he feels is the audience of his show and where the advertising money is directed at.

"It is on one hand, it's sort of the Washington opinion leaders and I think that that's what I sort of view my job sometimes as you know who's on the show, we know in 'Meet The Press' it's sort of an old schooled influence of sort of the Washington opinion leaders, so that's one part of the audience and it's certainly what, to be totally craft, what I think advertisers pay for. I think the second (part of the audience) is the informed voter: the passionate informed voter that votes in every election, takes this stuff pretty seriously. Of all of the Sunday shows, I think that they (advertisers) think that the people that watch that, are not just opinion leaders in Washington, but sort of opinion influencers."

When Stigall further pushed him on who the audience is, calling it an "in the beltway bubble type show," Todd attempted to clarify what he feels that he is doing every Sunday morning.

"I'm trying to remind Washington that there's a whole another America out there. I think that my job is to say 'hey, you know, stop telling yourself that the economy is doing great.' You want to know why people don't think the economy is well because in rural America, the economy is not doing well, when I say that Washington D.C. is in some ways the audience, they're the audience to explain hey, this is why you're so unpopular."