"I did think he looked incredibly attractive up there with his wife, his beautiful wife, Michelle. Again -- they are one hell of an attractive couple up there. When they took the stage there it reminded me a bit of Jack Kennedy and Jackie back in '56. ... There's something nice about it."

That's NBC and MSNBC anchor and pundit Chris Matthews, discussing Barack Obama late Tuesday night.

Matthews has something of a history of ebullience when speaking about Obama. As Matthews announced NBC's projection that Obama had won the Iowa caucuses last week, he said, "Barack Obama, the senator from Illinois, has won the Democratic caucuses in Iowa. I'm telling you, Keith [Olbermann], history. This is Lexington and Concord. This is going around the world right now."

And Matthews also has a history of focusing on politicians' appearances, and in glowing terms. In 2003, discussing President Bush and his "Mission Accomplished" speech from the deck of an aircraft carrier, Matthews said, "He's like Eisenhower. He looks great in a military uniform. He looks great in that cowboy costume he wears when he goes west. I remember him standing at that fence with Colin Powell. Was the best picture in the 2000 campaign." In May of last year, wondering aloud about Fred Thompson's sex appeal, Matthews asked, "Can you smell the English leather on this guy, the Aqua Velva, the sort of mature man's shaving cream, or whatever, you know, after he shaved? Do you smell that sort of -- a little bit of cigar smoke? You know, whatever." And in February 2007, Matthews said of Mitt Romney, "[H]e's got a great chin, I've noticed."