Conan O’Brien says he got a phone call from David Letterman over the holidays.

O’Brien said Wednesday that he and Letterman have “always been good. I said he didn’t owe me a phone call, but I appreciated it.”

However, O’Brien said about Jay Leno, who replaced him as “Tonight” show, “We all know the story,” even though his new TBS show ”Conan” began in November.

He added, “I’m very appreciative. There’s nothing like walking away from ‘The Tonight Show’ that makes you appreciative of being on the air and having a TV show. I think that feeling is coming through.”

Now that the Olympics are over, with Canada’s heart-wrenching hockey defeat of Team USA, 3-2 in overtime, it’s time to watch real television again.

There’s a mixed bag of premieres tonight. CBS has “Rules of Engagement” at 8:30, while G4 has “The International Sexy Ladies Show” starting up at 8. TLC has “Our Little Life” at 8.

Of course, the big one, is “The Tonight Show with JAY LENO” at 11:35 p.m. on NBC.

And if you’re gunning for a finale, you have “The Bachelor” on ABC at 8.

Reports indicate that Janeane Garofalo is being tapped for a new CBS medical drama.

NBC will give “Last Comic Standing” a seventh season. Craig Robinson (Darryl on “The Office”) will host.

Acting vets Dennis Farina (Law and Order) and John Ortiz will appear together in “Luck,” the pilot for the new HBO horse-racing and gambling drama from Michael Mann and David Milch.

Scott Brown, the first republican senator Massachusetts has elected in quite a long time, will make an appearance on The Jay Leno Show this Thursday.

According to the AP, he new senator won’t be in the studio. Instead he’ll be joining Leno by satellite. NBC spokeswoman Tracy St. Pierre said Leno will ask Brown 10 quick questions.

Here’s Conan O’Brien’s full statement:

People of Earth:

In the last few days, I’ve been getting a lot of sympathy calls, and I want to start by making it clear that no one should waste a second feeling sorry for me. For 17 years, I’ve been getting paid to do what I love most and, in a world with real problems, I’ve been absurdly lucky. That said, I’ve been suddenly put in a very public predicament and my bosses are demanding an immediate decision.

Six years ago, I signed a contract with NBC to take over “The Tonight Show” in June of 2009. Like a lot of us, I grew up watching Johnny Carson every night and the chance to one day sit in that chair has meant everything to me. I worked long and hard to get that opportunity, passed up far more lucrative offers, and since 2004 I have spent literally hundreds of hours thinking of ways to extend the franchise long into the future. It was my mistaken belief that, like my predecessor, I would have the benefit of some time and, just as important, some degree of ratings support from the prime-time schedule. Building a lasting audience at 11:30 is impossible without both.

But sadly, we were never given that chance. After only seven months, with my “Tonight Show” in its infancy, NBC has decided to react to their terrible difficulties in prime-time by making a change in their long-established late night schedule.

Last Thursday, NBC executives told me they intended to move the “Tonight Show” to 12:05 to accommodate the Jay Leno Show at 11:35. For 60 years the “Tonight Show” has aired immediately following the late local news. I sincerely believe that delaying the “Tonight Show” into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting. “The Tonight Show” at 12:05 simply isn’t the “Tonight Show.” Also, if I accept this move I will be knocking the “Late Night” show, which I inherited from David Letterman and passed on to Jimmy Fallon, out of its long-held time slot. That would hurt the other NBC franchise that I love, and it would be unfair to Jimmy.

So it has come to this: I cannot express in words how much I enjoy hosting this program and what an enormous personal disappointment it is for me to consider losing it. My staff and I have worked unbelievably hard and we are very proud of our contribution to the legacy of “The Tonight Show.” But I cannot participate in what I honestly believe is its destruction. Some people will make the argument that with DVRs and the Internet a time slot doesn’t matter. But with the “Tonight Show,” I believe nothing could matter more.

There has been speculation about my going to another network but, to set the record straight, I currently have no other offer and honestly have no idea what happens next. My hope is that NBC and I can resolve this quickly so that my staff, crew, and I can do a show we can be proud of, for a company that values our work.

Have a great day and, for the record, I am truly sorry about my hair; it’s always been that way.

Yours,

Conan

NBC is risking losing “The Tonight Show” host Conan O’Brien to Fox following the peacock’s big scheduling foul-up, reports FOXNews.com. NBC has confirmed that they plan to pull “The Jay Leno Show” from its 10 o’clock spot and put him at 11:35, pushing Conan and Fallon into the wee hours of the morning.

But Conan’s aren’t the only feathers the peacock’s rustled recently. Fans were stunned last October when the network cancelled “Southland,” a gritty cop-drama starring Massachusetts native Tom Everett Scott. NBC claimed that the show was “too dark and gritty,” but Scott told Blast in a recent interview that “the reason why NBC let it go I don’t think anyone really knows.”

“There’s a lot going on over at NBC that doesn’t really make sense right now,” Scott said. “I’m really not sure what’s going on right now.”

NBC censored the show heavily, said Scott, which was “beautifully written” and “very engaging” but had “a lot of graphic violence” and “a whole lot of cussing and swearing that NBC was bleeping out.”

Fortunately for Southland, and for Scott, TNT picked up the show and will be airing the first 13 episodes starting Tuesday. Should the show be a success, filming may continue. The cable network will presumably create more artistic freedom for this dark cop drama.

“I think being on TNT is going to enrich the show,” said Scott. “It’s gonna make the show the fans wanna see.”

Perhaps there is a happy trade to be had for Conan as there was for Southland. Will NBC lose another valuable show so soon? Let us know what you think in the comments section.

SAN DIEGO — Jay Leno is going home.

Home, that is, to late night television.

In a statement from NBC Universal TV chairman Jeff Gaspin "The Jay Leno Show," currently in the primetime 10 p.m. slot will end after February. The network’s plans are to move the veteran host to a later 11:30 time slot.

Gaspin made his announcement during the Television Critic’s Association Press Tour held in Pasadena, Calif.

"My goal right now is to keep Jay Leno, Conan O’Brien and Jimmy Fallon as part of our late-night lineup,” Gaspin said. “As much as I’d like to tell you we have a done deal, we know that’s not true."

Gaspin’s response came during wide speculation from various media outlets and social networks that the cancellation of "The Jay Leno Show" was imminent.

In an opening monologue last week, Leno made light of the awkward situation and joked, saying: "There’s a rumor, I don’t know if you’ve heard, that we’re canceled. I heard it on the radio on my way down here…If we did get canceled it would give us some time to do some traveling. In fact I heard FOX is beautiful this time of year."

NBC’s plan also calls O’Brien to retain his job with “Tonight” but at the later hour of 12:05 a.m. Jimmy Fallon and “Late Night” would be pushed to 1:05 a.m.

Tonight is the season premiere of “What Not To Wear” on TLC at 9 p.m., but it’s the weekend that has us excited.

On Sunday, NBC as the premiere of “Chuck” at 9, so be sure to DVR the HBO season premiere of “Big Love” at the same time. History Channel has premieres of “Ax Men” at 9 also, as well as “Madhouse” at 10. If you are still looking for something, National Geographic Channel has the season premiere of “Border Wars” also at 9.

Sunday is also a big day for FOX with the 450th episode of “The Simpsons” at 8 p.m. followed by the “Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special: In 3D! On Ice!” at 8:30.

In less happy, less 3D and maybe not less on ice news, NBC execs have reportedly met with Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien about their abysmal ratings. TMZ suggests NBC might cancel Leno’s 10 p.m. show and return him to “The Tonight Show,” firing O’Brien. NBC has gone on the record saying they support both shows in their current formats, but the network admitted that Leno’s poor ratings are hurting affiliates’ 11 p.m. newscasts.

Finally, CBS announced its midseason schedule. Jerry Bruckheimer’s new drama “Miami Medical” will air Fridays at 10 p.m starting April 2. “Accidentally on Purpose” moves to Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. starting March 31. “Rules of Engagement” begins its fourth season March 1 at 8:30 p.m, and 24 former castmates will return for the 20th edition of “Survivor” called “Heroes vs. Villains.” The two-hour premiere is February 11 at 8 p.m.

• The Fed injects an addition trillion dollars into the economy.

WASHINGTON “" With the country sinking deeper into recession, the Federal Reserve launched a bold $1.2 trillion effort Wednesday to lower rates on mortgages and other consumer debt, spur spending and revive the economy. To do so, the Fed will spend up to $300 billion to buy long-term government bonds and an additional $750 billion in mortgage-backed securities guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues wrapped a two-day meeting by leaving a key short-term bank lending rate at a record low of between zero and 0.25 percent. Economists predict the Fed will hold the rate in that zone for the rest of this year and for most _ if not all _ of next year.

• Marijuana policy undergoes a long overdue shift.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Attorney General Eric Holder signaled a change on medical marijuana policy Wednesday, saying federal agents will target marijuana distributors only when they violate both federal and state law.

That would be a departure from the Bush administration, which targeted medical marijuana dispensaries in California even if they complied with that state’s law.

• Are newspapers next on the bailout list?

WASHINGTON, March 18 (Reuters) – U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said on Wednesday preserving a healthy newspaper industry was important and he was open to adjusting antitrust policy if it could help.

“I’d like to think 20, 30, 40 years from now people will still be reading the newspaper,” Holder told reporters.

He was responding to a call by House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, urging the Justice Department to give newspapers more leeway to merge or combine operations.

“The policy is to go after those people who violate both federal and state law,” Holder said in a question-and-answer session with reporters at the Justice Department.

• And in another first, Barack Obama will become the first sitting US President to appear on a late night talk show.

Click here to view all videos and the full transcript from Mike Huckabee’s appearance on The Tonight Show.

In a controversial move, former Arkansas Governor and current Republican presidential contender Mike Huckabee left the campaign trail the night before the Iowa caucuses to appear as Jay Leno’s guest on The Tonight Show for its return to live broadcast Wednesday.

Acknowledging the ongoing writers strike, the Governor’s campaign explained that the decision to appear was made only once they were, “…assured that no replacement writers were being used in the show’s production.” because, “Governor Huckabee believes that the writers deserve to be fairly compensated for the sale of their work.”

Huckabee said he would like to been seen by the American people as the, “…guy they work with rather than the guy that laid them off.” A view apparently shared by some political bloggers who have taken to referring to him as “Awshucksabee.” He is a former Baptist minister, and explained to Leno that he entered the political arena when he realized that decision makers were making policy “without knowing real poverty.”

Adding to his down home image, Huckabee is also known for his rock band “Capitol Offense” who performed in Des Moines at a January 1, 2008 fundraiser where he cajoled former Congressman and current MSNBC morning anchor Joe Scarborough to join him on guitar. In a moment reminiscent of Bill Clinton’s famous campaign appearance on the Arsenio Hall Show, Huckabee even accepted an offer to join Kevin Eubanks and The Tonight Show Band for a brief set.

Generally, the conversation between Leno and Huckabee avoided policy specifics, with the exception of a brief description of his Fair Tax proposal. Which is essentially a national sales tax in which everyone would pay 23 percent of what they consume — food, gas, sales however, the poor — below a certain threshold would be “untaxed” by getting a rebate. Huckabee said his plan would free people up to earn what they want.

Governor Huckabee also explained his decision to pull his first attack ad two days ago, minutes before a press conference with major media outlets seated only to then showed it to the media anyhow because he didn’t want them to think it didn’t really exist when it did. He cited that his conscious got in the way of dissing Romney, who has spent $8-9 million on negative ads in Iowa and New Hampshire against his two biggest opponents — Governor Huckabee and Senator John McCain. Huckabee pulled his own attack ad because he claimed in front of Leno he wanted to “stick to his message” which is to “stay positive” and talk about what the country needs, rather than what’s wrong with the other guys.

One Republican Party activist — not affiliated with a specific candidate — said the decision to appear on the show highlights Huckabee’s confidence with his current standing in Iowa. However, he noted, it is reminiscent of former Governor Howard Dean’s ill-fated decision in 2004 to leave the campaign trail during a similar time frame in favor of a joint appearance with former President Jimmy Carter.

Huckabee, sticking to his message, ended the evening on a positive note. When Leno asked which candidate he’d like to see on the Democratic side, Huckabee noted that all the Democrats were “sincere” however, there is a fundamental difference in their politics but he “respected anyone running for president.” He did note, that it seems as if Senator Barack Obama and him share a similar value in horizontal politics that is, politics is not just about left, right, liberal, conservative, Democrats and Republican but rather values vertical politics — where the candidate wants to bring the country up and not down, forward — not backwards.

Transcript:

JAY LENO: Folks, up until a few weeks ago, my next guest was an also ran with a funny name in the Republican campaign. He still has a funny name, but now he’s near the top in the national polls. He’s neck in neck with the Mitt Romney in Iowa, and the caucus there will be held tomorrow. Please welcome Mike Huckabee, ladies and gentlemen.

(Applause.)

JAY LENO: Thanks for coming.

MIKE HUCKABEE: Wonderful to be here. Thank you.

JAY LENO: This is what I find fascinating about American politics. I kind of follow this kind of stuff. So I’ve known who you are for a while, but you literally, in the last couple of months, have come from nowhere with hardly any money. Explain how this happens.

MIKE HUCKABEE: I’m just trying to keep from going back to nowhere as fast as I can.

(Laughter.)

I’ve seen a lot of this. People are looking for a presidential candidate who reminds them more of the guy they work with rather than the guy that laid them off. I think that’s part of what’s going on right now.

(Applause.)

JAY LENO: Right. Now, tell us about your background. I know you’re from Hope, Arkansas.

MIKE HUCKABEE: Yes, born and raised there.

JAY LENO: Also, of course, President Clinton did you know each other
growing up?

MIKE HUCKABEE: We didn’t know each other growing up. He’s 9 years older, and he had moved away when he was like 7 years old and went to Hot Springs. When he ran for President, somehow it just didn’t sound right to say, “I believe in a place called Hot Springs.” So he talked about his birth place.

(Laughter.)

You can understand that. We all understand that.

JAY LENO: Now, your first career was as a Baptist minister. How long did you do that?

MIKE HUCKABEE: About 12 years.

JAY LENO: How did you become how did get into that line of work?

MIKE HUCKABEE: Well, I mean, the honest and serious answer is that I just saw life and a perspective in the church that I think very few people get to see. You see every single social pathology that’s out there. Nothing is abstract to you. You put a name and a face on everything, and I really began to believe that so many people making decisions that affect the way we live, the way our future would be governed, didn’t have a clue about how people were really struggling.
It became evident to me that there were a lot of folks making decisions that didn’t understand poverty, hunger, or disease. They didn’t understand the challenges that people had in their families, and for my own three children, who were small at the time, I decided I don’t want to spend the rest of my life complaining about what “they” are doing.
And I finally thought it’s time to get out of the stands and on the field and get my jersey dirty.

JAY LENO: You also played in rock band.

MIKE HUCKABEE: Yes.

JAY LENO: So it’s this is like TV Baptist minister during the day,
playing White Snake at the KitKat Club at night. Doesn’t that seem

(Laughter.)

JAY LENO: Some of your congregation (making rock music sounds.)

MIKE HUCKABEE: I never played with my teeth or anything like that. So it wasn’t totally bad. I started playing guitar when I was 11 years old. I was like so many kids that came out of the ’60s that wanted to
play guitar more than anything. When I finally got a guitar my
parents got a guitar from JCPenney, ordered it from the catalogue. I
got it Christmas 1966. They paid $99 for whole rig guitar,
amplifier. It took them a year to pay it off. My parents barely made enough money to pay the rent. We lived in a little rented house. It was a big sacrifice for them, but I played that guitar until my fingers
nearly bled and until their ears nearly bled. It was

(Laughter.)

JAY LENO: And they said, “Son why don’t you become a minister?”

(Laughter.)

MIKE HUCKABEE: I think they were hoping for me to do anything, and obviously, I wasn’t good enough to make it as a professional. So I had to find something else to do, and that looked like it was mostly indoor work and no heavy lifting. I thought it would be a pretty good way to go.

JAY LENO: Do you think you could sit in are you good enough to sit
in with our band later?

MIKE HUCKABEE: No, but I’d like to do it anyway.

(Applause.)

JAY LENO: I think you first got elected about the time I took over this show, about ’92?

MIKE HUCKABEE: Well, ’93 was the first year. I ran in ’92 and lost an election. Then I ran in ’93 for lieutenant governor, and I won and reelected in ’94, became governor from the position of lieutenant governor when my predecessor resigned and then reelected twice and served ten and a half years as governor.

JAY LENO: Because when I first met you, you were living in a trailer in Arkansas.

MIKE HUCKABEE: My wife wanted me to tell you it was a manufactured home.

JAY LENO: Yes.

(Applause.)

Why were you living in a trailer? Were you trying to put on the airs and impress public constituents?

(Laughter.)

MIKE HUCKABEE: You know, it was a triple wide. A lot of people only have a single wide trailer, but we had a triple wide. It was pretty significant. Actually what was going on was the governor’s mansion was
undergoing renovation. There were a lot of things the wiring and all
this stuff had to be redone. So we had an option to go out and rent this very expensive place or find alternative housing arrangements. We decided to move in a triple wide manufactured home on the grounds of the governor’s mansion. We knew we were going to take a beating.

JAY LENO: We had a million jokes about it.

(Laughter.)

Thank you. You supported the monologue for weeks with that.

(Laughter.)

MIKE HUCKABEE: The big line was they said, “I’m sorry. I’m running
late today. I was on the interstate and got behind the governor’s mansion.

(Laughter.)

JAY LENO: Well, we actually interviewed that was the first time I
met you. You looked a lot the different then. Here he is. We’re talking seven years ago.

(Clip shown.)

(Applause.)

JAY LENO: When we come back, I want to ask you about that triple wide jacket you had on there.

(Laughter.)

We’ll take a break and come back with Mike Huckabee when we come back.

(Applause.)

(Break taken.)

(Mike Huckabee is playing his guitar with the band.)

JAY LENO: Nice job.
Before I ask you about news, I want to ask you about the triple wide jacket. You lost quite a bit of weight. How much weight did you lose?

MIKE HUCKABEE: About 110 pounds.

(Applause.)

JAY LENO: Congratulations on that. What was your secret?

MIKE HUCKABEE: The legislature kept eating my lunch every day.

(Laughter.)

No. My doctor sat me down. I faced a health crisis in 2003, and he basically told me if I didn’t make a lifestyle change, I was entering the last decade of my life. Then he described it. He said to me, “Here’s what’s going to happen.” And when he described it, that’s when I decided I needed a new exit strategy. So I really changed my lifestyle. I started eating differently, got rid of the fried foods and sugars. You know, I’ll tell you something, when you grow up in the South, everything is fried. I mean, you don’t eat anything unless you fry it.

JAY LENO: Fried water.

(Laughter.)

MIKE HUCKABEE: That’s right. You know, it’s very difficult to do that.
If you don’t fry it, you put sugar on it. It’s just the way we eat.
And between that and not exercising, which I did not do, it really caught up with me. I was in a health crisis. So my life was kind of representative of like a lot of people in this country that just don’t take care of themselves. We don’t have a healthcare crisis as much as we have a health crisis, and I was the epitome of it.

JAY LENO: So that’s terrific.
Now, you and Romney seems to have gotten into fisticuffs lately. What’s
going on here? You guys are neck and neck and seems to be getting

MIKE HUCKABEE: Oh, it’s politics. I mean, that’s what politics is about. I tell people that, if you can’t stand the sight of your own blood, don’t run for anything, just buy a ticket and watch it from the stands.

(Laughter.)

Because this is a full contact sport. No doubt about it.

JAY LENO: On Monday, you had a press conference. You were going to release an attack ad which seemed a little unusual for you. Why were you going to do that?

MIKE HUCKABEE: We had been hammered. We had been outspent 20 to 1 in
Iowa. 20 to 1. And that’s tough. And we had been hammered

JAY LENO: How much did you spend?

MIKE HUCKABEE: Oh, I think probably 3 to $400,000.

JAY LENO: And how much did Romney spend?

MIKE HUCKABEE: 8 or 9 million. So I mean, you know, it’s a substantial difference. We just kept getting hammered with negative television ads, negative radio ads, and mail pieces. And finally, decided “We had better answer this, or somebody is going to believe all this stuff.”

JAY LENO: So they work negative ads.

MIKE HUCKABEE: Well, they seemed to.
Then he started hammering John McCain over in New Hampshire. John McCain may be a rival of mine in the presidential race, but I have nothing but respect for him. He’s a great American hero. I think he’s a great American and a wonderful man, and a great guy

(Applause.)

JAY LENO: So you were going to do an ad.

MIKE HUCKABEE: Right. So we put together an ad and taped the tape, got it all ready. We were going to release it at a press conference, and Monday I just didn’t feel right. We had gotten where we are by being positive and talking about what this country needs to be rather than
what’s wrong with the other guys, and I just said

JAY LENO: As you were making it did you feel like

MIKE HUCKABEE: I needed to go take a shower or something like that or give Romney a shower maybe. I don’t know.

(Laughter.)

You know, at the time you think this is what we have to do. You don’t
like it, but you think it’s necessary, and at the end you just think

JAY LENO: So then you get a little conscience saying not to, but then why show it to the press at the press conference?

MIKE HUCKABEE: Well, they were very cynical about it, but the point is, if we hadn’t shown it, they would have said, “You didn’t have an ad.
You’re just bluffing us.” If I had really wanted to be disingenuous what I would have done is run the ad for three days and then said, “Oh, I have a conscience now. I think I’m going to pull it.”

JAY LENO: You did that very well. “Oh, I have a conscience.”

(Laughter.)

That was a real good political

MIKE HUCKABEE: I hope I have a conscience, which would be very unusual for politics to have a conscience.

JAY LENO: I know. Now, you have some interesting positions. I was not aware of this one until just this week when I started to research you a little bit. You want to dismantle the IRS. Everybody cheers that.

(Applause.)

Everybody loves that idea, but what is your alternative? You do away with the IRS, then what?

MIKE HUCKABEE: We would have a consumption tax rather than a tax on productivity.

JAY LENO: Value added?

MIKE HUCKABEE: It really wouldn’t be a V.A.T. It’s a simple like a sales tax at the point of retail sales. Let me tell you why that’s different. You, first of all, eliminate the underground economy. So
everybody is paying drug dealers, prostitutes, gamblers all those
people pay like the rest of us.

JAY LENO: There must be some legitimate work in there.

(Laughter.)

Boy, you really are in politics.

(Laughter.)

Now, what about a poor person goes and suddenly how much is this tax?
23, 24 percent?

MIKE HUCKABEE: It’s 23. But here’s the thing. Every person receives a “prebate” of the taxes that they would have on the level of the poverty, which means that what you really do with this fair tax, which is what it’s called, is you untax the poor. They don’t pay taxes, which means it’s really a progressive tax system. That’s why I love it because it would take the people least able to afford the taxes, and it virtually untaxes them.

Here’s what it also does. It frees people up to earn as much as they want. You don’t get taxed on income, savings, investments, capital gains, or debt.

I met a guy in New Hampshire. This is an interesting point. He’s working a second shift at a machine shop, trying try to help his daughter go through Cornell. She’s in grad school. $54,000 bucks a year to help her out. And he’s working a second shift. My first thing was, “Thank you, Lord. My daughter is not in grad school at Cornell because that’s a lot of money.” But then he tells me, “I’m now in a new tax bracket because I’m working a second shift, and the additional taxes I’m paying almost takes away what I’m getting on the second shift.”
What we’ve done is we’ve told him that, if he really, really works hard, we’re going to make it really hard for him to help his daughter. Here is how he can get his daughter some help: Quit both shifts, stop working, and he could then qualify for his daughter to have some federal assistance. That’s nutty.

We ought to have a system that encourages people to work, to think about the small business guy that sketches out the idea on his kitchen table.
He wants to go into business for himself, but his greatest competitor is not the guy across town or across the country. His greatest competitor is his own government that makes it real difficult for him to fill out the paperwork and pay the taxes.

(Applause.)

JAY LENO: Now, quickly the Democrats also seem to be gaining in
Iowa. Let’s say you win. Who would you want to win on the Democratic ballot? Who would you want to run against?

MIKE HUCKABEE: I still want them all to drop out, and let me have a clear shot all the way to the White House.

(Laughter.)

JAY LENO: So you’re realistic about this.

MIKE HUCKABEE: Yeah, frankly, I think there’s some Democrats that I
think they’re all sincere. I think there’s a fundamental difference between us in terms of whether we think taxes ought to go up or down, whether government ought to be more or less involved. Look, I have respect for anybody that runs for president. I have a great respect for Barack Obama. I think he’s a person who is trying to do in many ways what I hope I’m trying to do and that is to say let’s quit what I call “horizontal politics.” Everything in this country is not left, right, liberal, conservative, Democrat, Republican. I think the country is looking for somebody who is vertical, who is thinking, “Let’s take America up and not down,” and people will forgive you for being left or right if you go up.

(Applause.)

JAY LENO: I know you’ve got to get back to Iowa.

MIKE HUCKABEE: I do.

JAY LENO: I love Iowa. Thank you, sir, Mike Huckabee.

Emeril Lagasse is next.

David Letterman reached a deal on December 28 with the union for striking screenwriters. The agreement will let his show return to the air next week, bringing his writing staff back with him.

The Writers Guild of America called its pact with Letterman a sign of union readiness to negotiate a deal with major film and TV studios to settle Hollywood’s worst labor crisis in 20 years.

The WGA said the agreement included provisions to pay writers for work distributed over the Internet. Compensation for Internet content has been the issue halting negotiations between the WGA and studios causing the writer strikes, now in their eight week, to continue.

The strikes by 10,500 WGA members has harmed the U.S. television industry, postponing production on major motion pictures and causing fears of cancelation of Hollywood awards shows. Many writes have promised to strike outside the Golden Globes and even the Oscars if deals are not reached.

Letterman’s deal will allow The Late Show and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, both owned by Letterman’s World Wide Pants company, to resume CBS broadcasts of new episodes beginning Wednesday. The Late Show has remained off the air, like other shows, and in reruns since November 5 as support to the writers.

This deal will give Letterman a better chance at higher ratings over rivals Jay Leno, of NBC’s The Tonight Show, and even Conan O’Brien’s Late Night show and ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live. These shows plan to return the same day as The Late Show without writers.

However WGA strike rules forbid the preparation of any scripted material for shows that striking writers would normally have produced. Since other hosts do not own their shows, unlike Letterman, they will have to wait for their studios to reach separate deal with the WGA.