Rachel Maddow courtesy MSNBC Cable news personalities usually
take a while to catch on in the ratings, but not MSNBC's Rachel
Maddow. Since her show debuted on Sept. 8, she's been a strong
competitor in the 9 p.m. hour, topping CNN's Larry King Live on
some nights and often building on her audience lead-in from
Countdown with Keith Olbermann. Only nine years ago, she was an
activist and Rhodes Scholar turned morning show sidekick in
Holyoke, Mass. Now she's a major participant in the national
dialogue taking place each day on 24-hour cable news. The Biz
recently stopped by her office at NBC News to talk about her
rapid rise.  TVGuide.com: After you established yourself as a TV
talking head you were pretty outspoken about wanting to have a
show of your own. Rachel Maddow: Which apparently is rude - or
is at least not what people do. It was like when Joe Biden was
asked if he would like to be vice president. He was like "Yeah!
I'd love to be vice president!" You're not supposed to say it
that way. I sort of fee