And so, here comes Ted Koppel. Maybe.

Politico reports that Mr. Koppel--who friends say would prefer to be secretary of state--is in talks with ABC News President David Westin about taking over for George Stephanopoulos on This Week.

It makes sense. Mr. Koppel isn't doing much these days, and Mr. Westin likes a big name. And it's not mutually exclusive with one of ABC's other reporters--cough, Jake Tapper, Terry Moran--eventually taking over. After all, NBC used Tom Brokaw for a spell in the wake of Tim Russert's death.

Of course, it may not be happening at all. As Steve Krakauer at Mediaite notes, the story's already changed several times. And a response like this, from Mr. Westin, doesn't inspire tremendous confidence:

I will pull back the veil to the limited degree of telling you - for the benefit of your readers - that just about every specific that you have is false.