Executive Suite

6:00 AM PDT 10/2/2012 by Marisa Guthrie

MSNBC's Phil Griffin on his channel's ratings roll and why it wasn't just about that 47 percent video, whom he wants from Fox News and why Obama won't come on.

Like many political junkies, Phil Griffin starts his day with Morning Joe, which he watches while running three miles on the treadmill. Fit and trim at 55, the network president swore off meat a year ago but still eats fish -- "you need protein," he reasons. Griffin has been at MSNBC since its launch in 1996, long before the network carved out its current identity as the progressive destination for politicos -- when CNN was atop the cable news ratings heap and Fox News was but a maligned upstart on the landscape.