If Katie Couric had a real Facebook page, one that just her friends could see, for the past couple of years you could just imagine that it would have this constant status update: "Katie Couric is disappointed." After her ratings at CBS News slumped and the network became less supportive of her, you might imagine that she's sort of just generally a little disillusioned all the time. So you almost forget that there might be specific things that she's disappointed about. Like presidential primary debates, for example. Today, we learn from the Observer that she wanted to host one (as anchors tend to do — Anderson Cooper alone moderated, like, fifteen), but for various reasons a CBS debate never materialized.

There were squabbles over the setting with the DNC, there was the writers' strike, and there may have even been financial concerns. The network wanted to have a smaller, more intimate debate, where Katie chatted with the candidates without a studio audience. We don't know what she would have asked, but, judging from her 60 Minutes interviews, it would have been a lot of questions about feelings. But the Observer also posits that CBS News just wasn't that into it. They could have made it happen if they really wanted, but they didn't, so it didn't. "When it comes to politics, they're not putting their money where their mouth is with Katie," a network observer said. And so Katie, again, is let down. “Anchors are always disappointed when they don’t get much,” Sean McManus, the president of CBS News, said. “She is disappointed.” Sigh.

Why No Debate for CBS Star Katie? [NYO]
Related: Alas, Poor Couric [NYM]