Chris Matthews steps into controversy

During an interview Tuesday night with Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO), an Obama supporter, Matthews asked if Obama could connect to working-class voters in states like Pennsylvania.

"Let me ask you about how he -- how's he connect with regular people," said Matthews. "Does he? Or does he only appeal to people who come from the African-American community and from the people who have college or advanced degrees?"

"You know, I think people forget about how well Barack Obama is thought of in southern Illinois," McCaskill replied. "I know southern Illinois. They're our neighboring state," said the Missouri senator. "They're very much like the people in many parts of rural Missouri. These are working people, salt-of-the-earth people. And if these people of Pennsylvania will give him a chance and listen to him, I think they will be surprised how much they'll relate to him, both as a leader and as a person," she said.

Matthews's remarks, first reported online by Media Matters for America, drew mixed reactions from commenters on the site. Some thought the remarks were inappropriate ("Do you believe that African Americans and people who have a college degree are somehow irregular?") while others were not terribly concerned ("when you read the entire question in context this wasn't that bad a statement").

Earlier in the interview, Matthews described "regular voters" as the ones who actually do know how to bowl, a reference to Obama's horrible public bowling performance over the weekend in Pennsylvania. The Illinois senator bowled a 37.

In a separate interview, also reported on Media Matters, Matthews said to MSNBC political analyst Michelle Bernard, "You know, Michelle -- and this gets very ethnic, but the fact that [Obama's] good at basketball doesn't surprise anybody, but the fact that he's that terrible at bowling does make you wonder."

(Editor's Update: Due to an editing error, an earlier version of this article omitted the final paragraph about basketball. We regret the error.)