In a new interview with Politico, CNN’s Piers Morgan says he’s “absolutely” confident his program, which hasn’t done so hot in ratings since its launch two years ago, will soon compete on the same level as Rachel Maddow and Bill O’Reilly:

An excerpt:

“[CNN is] still the best when it matters, when the big stuff happens. But we have been a little bit slow to react to the competition, and we should have more personalities on the network unafraid to express opinions,” he continued. “It should be more lively, independent programming, unique to each hour. Because when there’s not much happening, having that on a repeat cycle hour after hour after hour is dull television.”

Asked if he believed that he could one day compete with the likes of O’Reilly and Maddow, Morgan said, “absolutely.”

The Drudge Report ran the numbers in characteristically optimistic Drudge fashion…

Here’s a screen shot from today’s front page of Drudge: (For context, only two of the programs listed, Fox News’ Hannity and MSNBC’s Maddow, are in the same time slot as Morgan’s show.)