The Ticker: Abramoff, Cooper, Brokaw…

> CNN beat FNC and MSNBC by half an hour in reporting Jack Abramoff’s plea deal, WHAC notes. CNN broke the news at 9:18am and FNC followed at 9:48am…

> In Q4 2005, NBC’s Meet the Press beat CBS by 36%, ABC by 55% and Fox by 196%, NBC’s ratings release notes. Also: Weekend Today beats Weekend GMA…

> Anderson Cooper once thought about dying his hair for “about 30 minutes.” He tells IWantMedia: “I asked the guy who was cutting my hair one time what it would take. I have a big enough ego that I was considering doing it, but not so big that I was willing to sit for two hours in a salon reading old copies of Rosie magazine with tin foil in my hair…”

> Tom Brokaw in Men’s Journal, via Rush & Molloy: “I wake up some mornings to a jolt and think, ‘Oh my God, I’m 65…'”