Tonight's Must-See TV? Eric Massa, Glenn Beck And Larry King (Not All At Once)

Just-retired congressman Eric Massa, who claims he was effectively railroaded out of office by leaders of his Democratic Party, gets two chances to continue his crusade on national TV tonight.

As we reported yesterday, he's due on Fox News Channel's Glenn Beck show at 5 p.m. ET. And CNN's Larry King Live will have the upstate New York politician on at 9 p.m. ET.

Politico begins its Massa story this morning with this summary of the swift change in his circumstances:

"He's spent only 431 days in Congress, has never seen any of his bills pass out of subcommittee and was best known for voting against major pieces of legislation because they weren't liberal enough for him -- at least until he was accused of sexually harassing a male staffer. Meet Eric Massa, conservative media hero."

As NPR's Peter Overby said on All Things Considered yesterday, Massa charges that his opposition to the health care overhaul legislation his party champions led to what he says are inflated accusations about his behavior. But, Peter adds, Massa's claim that his vote would be pivotal on the health care legislation doesn't add up:

Earlier today on ABC-TV's Good Morning America, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs called Massa's claims "ridiculous":

Update at 11:15 a.m. ET: One of the targets of Massa's wrath and accusations, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., told reporters this morning that he and other Democratic leaders did not push the congressman out of office to block him from voting "no" on health care.