How much would a thirty minute commercial cost Obama?”
Barack Obama is not the first national politician to buy 30 minutes in prime time to make is case to the American voter. But he’s expected to be the first to combine a stump speech with folksy news items about his childhood, his supporters and his plans during tonight’s 8 p.m. commercial. In 1992, Ross Perot used a paid half-hour to speak from behind a desk. It became dull real fast. Later, pundits said he lost the viewers as a droned on and on about his platform. Estimates for the cost of tonight’s Obama Show reach $8 million to $10 million because he’s essentially bought air time on major networks, their cable affiliates and Spanish language stations. 8:11 p.m. The title is “Barack Obama: American Stories,” and the presentation opened as a blend of “Dateline” and infomercial — shifting from Middle American scenes of waving wheat fields to the candidate in an Oval Office setting, promising to restore the nation’s spirit. Looking presidential, he introduced a family telling their own
