President Ronald Reagan, is considering
challenging Senator Dianne Feinstein, the senator, next year. Reagan, a
long-time radio talk show host out in Los Angeles, told "The San Francisco
Chronicle" he`s thinking about a run. Feinstein`s approval rating, by the
way, in a poll last week was just 41 percent, suggesting she could be
vulnerable, particularly if 2012`s a big Republican year.

MATTHEWS: Welcome back to HARDBALL. Barack Obama`s had luck on his
side when it comes to his opponents over the years. When he ran for the
U.S. Senate, he ran against Alan Keyes. In 2008, he went up against a very
weakened John McCain. Many Republicans worry that President Obama might
get lucky again next time if they nominate Rick Perry, who could be a very
tough sell in battleground states and populated suburbs of big cities like
myhome town of Philadelphia.

Well, Tom Ridge was Pennsylvania`s very popular governor and the
nation`s first homeland security secretary. Last week, he endorsed former
Utah governor Jon Huntsman for president. And Michael Steele joins us. He
served as chairman of the Republican National Committee and lieutenant
governor of Maryland. He`s an MSNBC political analyst.

And I guess the question is -- we`ll talk about Obama`s luck, but I
think it`s pretty manifest. The man had some pretty lucky -- he was pretty
lucky in his opponents. He ran with two guys with marital problems in
Illinois. He ended up running against this guy who parachuted in, Alan
Keyes.

MATTHEWS: I mean, because, basically, he`s been pretty lucky in his -
- and John McCain, like your party always does, runs a guy eight years too
late. He was tired, just like