NEW YORK -- MSNBC host Chris Matthews will decide by the new year whether he will run for the U.S. Senate seat held by Arlen Specter.

That's the latest prognosis on the commentator's potential candidacy from his brother, Jim Matthews, the Montgomery County commissioner who was the GOP nominee for lieutenant governor two years ago.

Mr. Matthews discussed the odds on his brother's potential entry in the 2010 Democratic Senate primary last night as he mingled with guests at one of the many receptions surrounding the Pennsylvania Society weekend here.

"He told me yesterday he's going to think about it for about three weeks,'' Mr. Matthews told reporters, adding that his brother had informed him that, "hopefully, by Jan. 1, I'll have something to say."

In addition to weighing a Senate run, Mr. Matthews is in the last year of a contract with MSNBC, leading to some speculation over whether his thinly disguised political ambitions might not provide leverage in his contract negotiations. His brother insisted "unequivocally" that the two issues were separate.

"This has nothing to do with any pending contract,'' he said.

He suggested that his brother's decision was complicated by the fact that he enjoys his current job, one he would do, he said, "for $10 a year.''

"My brother Chris is looking forward to getting up Monday morning and going to work,'' he said.

The Pennsylvania Society festivities are typically a mecca for would-be candidates for statewide offices, but the television personality was a notable no-show at last night's receptions. His brother said that he decided to skip the events so as not to serve as a distraction. According to his brother, the other Mr. Matthews said, "I don't want to be the NBC peacock at the Pennsylvania Society.''