It only makes sense to share something light and fun for Thanksgiving with readers, even if there's a tiny tie-in to politics.
Besides CNN's Harry Enten, the political data guy whom readers will most readily recognize is a political correspondent and the data analyst for NBC News—mainly on what, until recently, was called MSNBC.
Change is inevitable, though, as in any part of life, and Steve Kornacki has switched over to NBC News/NBC Sports, inking a new deal in April as the network's chief data analyst, since the spin-off by NBCUniversal of now-MS NOW.
If you happened to see him before now, Kornacki usually looked like this:
1- Happy 46th Birthday to Stephan Joseph "Steve" Kornacki Jr., political journalist, writer & television presenter. Kornacki is a national political correspondent for NBC News. He has written articles for Salon, The New York Observer, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, pic.twitter.com/dsmZDrfxw7
— Howard Prince (@Howodd69) August 22, 2025
Now, what does this have to do with Thanksgiving? Steve Kornacki appeared on NBC this afternoon, to share some numbers and stats for the coverage of the 2025 National Dog Show, a traditional Turkey Day treat many families watch between the Macy's parade and football. Anyway, it struck me as sweet on Thursday when he threw in a presidential election season joke about the "popular vote." I'll get to that in a minute.
Embattled MSNBC - Soon to Be 'MS NOW' - Trots Out New 'Core Principles,' and We Can't Stop Laughing
One of the show's regular hosts, author and actor John O'Hurley, hammed it up with a "dance partner" in this promotional post on X in 2024:
The National Dog Show presented by Purina Noon to 2pm on NBC pic.twitter.com/VHQZe12t5A
— John O'Hurley ☘️🐕☘️ (@ImJohnOHurley) November 28, 2024
As I mentioned, on Turkey Day, the analyst was giving everyone the numbers related to cherished NBC Sports holiday programming starring... some very special dogs.
Just before the judges picked the top dog (pardon the pun!), Kornacki sidled in with some statistics on the National Dog Show through the years, using the big board to reveal which breeds are the (likely) underdogs in this annual contest of coiffured canines:
In another part of the show, he pointed out two trends, on pooch names and dog breeds, in every U.S. state. (My own Arizona and the midwestern Indiana somehow picked the same name!)
But this tickled me the most. Kornacki made time near the end of the clip to crack a joke about the popular vote; it is clever and funny, and may well prove the old adage, "You can't teach an old dog new tricks." Doggone good.
Watch:
And who won the Best in Show honors for 2025, you might ask? This sweet little dog:
The 2025 Dog Show winner is the
— Dustin Cone (@Dustin_Cone) November 27, 2025
👑 Belgian Sheepdog!! 👑
Soleil is first of her breed to ever win Best in Show at the National Dog Show #NationalDogShow pic.twitter.com/A7MNmebsMl
Happy Thanksgiving, RedState readers!
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