YES, HE CAN: Obama purchases 1/2 hour of prime time TV on CBS & NBC

[npincus]

Wooooo-hooo! :woohoo:

http://www.thrfeed.com/2008/10/obama-primetime.html

Barack Obama has purchased a half-hour of primetime television on CBS and NBC, sources confirm.

The Obama campaign is producing a nationwide pitch to voters that will air on at least two broadcast networks. The ad will run Wednesday, Oct. 29, at 8 p.m. -- less than a week before the general election.

The direct purchase of such a large block of national airtime right before an election used to be more commonplace before campaigns began to focus their endgame strategies exclusively on battleground states. Such a move is not without precedent in modern presidential politics, however -- Ross Perot did a similar purchase in 1992.

The special is a smart move for the Obama campaign, said Larry Sabato, a political analyst and director of the Center of Politics at the University of Virginia.

[GarbagemanLB]

1. What a surprise...the Fox 'deal' didn't go through. I'm shocked.

[Clio the Leo]

5. Guess Hannity changed his mind about "we welcome all opinions here on Fox" ...

... prob. still licking his wounds after the mauling Gibbs gave him.

[PretzelWarrior]

7. due to World Series. I can understand the decision.

maybe Obama can buy every single commercial ad block in the WS pregame show to align with his 30 minutes on other channels.

[Thrill]

2. What are they going to do with it?

[npincus]

9. article calls it a "nationwide pitch"

presumably he will state his case to America.

[blue-kite]

19. I'm voting for naked mud-wrestling... but I imagine they might mention the elections!

Shame... cheers
BK

[BlooInBloo]

3. I wonder if all of the DUers saying how bad it was for Obama to opt out of public financing....

will ever admit their gross error.

[nsd]

4. What about ABC?

[DefenseLawyer]

21. George and Charlie can have another flag-pin debate with each other

While Obama spends money with their rivals.

[NoSheep]

24. snap!

:7

[LiberalinNC]

6. WOW!!!!! That's awesome!

[Coexist]

8. Great closing move.

[Dangerously Amused]

10. Ratings will SKYROCKET!

I hope he gets a percentage of any associated ad revenue, lol.

[cui bono]

23. He bought the half hour. He IS the ad revenue. n/t

[MarthaMyDear]

11. My donation money well-spent! :~) Excellent news!

[Cha]

25. That's what I said at work tonight when

I read about this:bounce: Welcome to DU, Marthanna:)

[ddeclue]

12. According to the official campaign spokesperson: "They had no choice but to buy 1/2 hour"

"All those donations kept piling up around the office... you know....we get 10 dollars from a school teacher or 20 from a truck driver about 120,000 times a day lately and it was just getting to be an enormous pile...we have run out of places to store it here and it's just piled around everywhere all over people's desks, in the restrooms, all over the floor, stuffed into closets. It's gotten so bad that we couldn't get to Obama's desk anymore.

http://www.dw-world.de/image/0,,1647127_1,00.jpg

It was really getting ridiculous - all that money was becoming a fire hazard and I was afraid some poor campaign volunteer might accidentally get buried under an avalanche if we didn't get it out of the office soon.

I really hope that 1/2 hour will cost us enough to clear a path to my desk and let me find my cell phone again...I know it's here somewhere under all this money.

I don't know what we'll do with the rest of this money... but we were thinking about sending some of it down to Ben Bernanke and Hank Paulson because we hear they're running a little short lately"....

:rofl:

[RoadRage]

13. Anyone know how much it cost??

Just curious. Also, does McIdiot get to do it too? Or, only if he can afford to pay for it (which I don't think he can because he took the $84,000,000).

This is awesome... i wonder what he's going to say for a half hour. Imagine a whole half hour where he talks.. and McCain can't inturrupt him to spew out hate filled lies. AWESOME!

[Arkana]

18. That's the best part.

There's no equal time rule--since Obama is paying for this time, the networks are only obligated to offer McCain the same terms if he approaches them--but McCain will still have to pay for it. And he can't afford it.

But we can.

[high density]

22. NY Daily News estimates it is $2 million for two networks

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2008/10/09/2008-10-09_its_bam_tv_barack_obama_buys_a_half_hour.html

It's so cheap because of this: http://www.broadcastlawblog.com/archives/political-broadcasting-lowest-unit-rates-for-political-candidates-begin-on-september-5-get-answers-to-political-broadcasting-questions-from-our-political-broadcasting-guide.html

[Triana]

14. Alrighty then - time to send 'em some $$ - as soon as I get paid.

Haven't sent any yet this month.

[Celebration]

15. I guess he is still ticked off at ABC n/t

[DFLforever]

16. LOL.

It's going to be awhile before they forget that one... must have smelled collusion.

[Born_A_Truman]

17. Maddow's show said FOX too if World Series is over...

[renie408]

20. WOOT WOOT!! n/t