• Variety, Monday, March 3, 2008 10:30 AM

The primary battle between Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton has been luring record numbers of viewers to CNN and MSNBC. But the big question is whether the Nos. 2 and 3 cable news nets can keep them after the dust settles -- and mount any serious challenge to top-rated Fox News. At least one top buyer, Bill Carroll, vice prsident and director of programming for Katz TV, doesn't think so.

"It's the personalities that count in cable news prime time," he says. "When a big event like the presidential primary starts to taper off, viewers go back to the personalities." Still, CNN and MSNBC would like to keep their runs going as long as they can and are apt to be rooting for Clinton to do well in Ohio and Texas to stay competitive.

In February, CNN beat Fox News in prime time among adults 25-54 for the first time since November 2001, while MSNBC is still deliriously happy over the 7.8 million people who tuned in to a Feb. 26 Obama-Clinton debate, its highest viewership ever.

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