Air America's
Sweetheart

Since Rachel Maddow hit airwaves with her eponymous show on Air America in 2004, the former Rhodes Scholar has become one busy politico. Listeners can hear the 35-year-old California native play part logician and part devil's advocate in the plum listening hours of 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. every Monday through Friday on XM Satellite Radio. We called up Maddow, who now lives with her partner, artist Susan Mikula, in New York City and Massachusetts, to get the newswoman's take on the recent spate of gay headlines.

A lot of folks are calling you progressive media's next big star. How does that feel? I'm still trying to figure out who progressive media's last big star was.

Would you move to TV? I would love to be hosting a show in each media and I haven't made a secret of that, and I think that's maybe not the etiquette. Remember that book for girls on how to get a man called The Rules? Somebody told me that I'm not following the rules. Just like trying to get a man, you never admit that that's what you're doing. I'm not supposed to admit that I want a TV show.

Not following the rules seems to work for you. I made a decision to stop doing what I was doing before--which was activism--and start doing media. I don't see being in the media as doing activism. Producing in the corporate world can be very blunt. That's the downside. The upside is getting paid to speak your mind.

Rachel, you don't exactly emanate "corporate." Air America is corporate writ small and NBC is corporate writ large. It's easy to demonize the corporate world. It's been a very positive experience on a personal level.

Let's talk about gay marriage. For me, it's kind of like the right to serve as a gay person in the military. I don't know whether I would want to do that. I value military service. I also value marriage. If people want to do that, they damn well better have the right to.