“Old anchormen don’t go away, they keep coming back for more,” Walter Cronkite said in his last broadcast, as the Observer‘s Felix Gillette reminded his Twitter followers this morning.

And so, here comes Ted Koppel. Maybe.

Politico reports that Mr. Koppel–who friends say would prefer to be secretary of state–is in talks with ABC News President David Westin about taking over for George Stephanopoulos on This Week.

It makes sense. Mr. Koppel isn’t doing much these days, and Mr. Westin likes a big name. And it’s not mutually exclusive with one of ABC’s other reporters–cough, Jake Tapper, Terry Moran–eventually taking over. After all, NBC used Tom Brokaw for a spell in the wake of Tim Russert’s death.

Of course, it may not be happening at all. As Steve Krakauer at Mediaite notes, the story’s already changed several times. And a response like this, from Mr. Westin, doesn’t inspire tremendous confidence: