Will you watch the Obama infomercial/ will he get any kind of bump from it?

[Eraserhead]

Yes/Yes (but only a small one)

[Josh/Devilman88]

No/No

[paul718]

When will it be on?  And what channels?

[Eraserhead]

When will it be on?  And what channels?

8 PM tonight. It's on CBS, FOX, NBC and MSNBC.

[Lunar]

One of the best parts will be how the news media will be talking about it for 24 hours, even if it's neutral, McCain needs to win some news cycles.

I figure the Obama campaign can put on a good show, maybe a small bounce initially too.

[Reaganfan]

No/No

[elcorazon]

any bounce, no matter how small, is huge at this stage. Obama appears to be up 4-8 points and if he can even make that lead 6-9 points as of Friday, it'll be really tough to overcome that in 4 days to the election.  I think it will also serve to humanize, but also reassure doubters who may have been swayable by all the anti-Obama propaganda out there.

All this is minor, but given Obama's up slightly right now, it's kinda important.  I'll try and watch it.

[Bacon King]

I think it will do a lot more to solidify "softer" support rather than win over anybody.

[opebo]

No/No.

Obama can't improve his standing in the polls as the remaining voters are all racist.  Even about 3-5 points of his current support is going to switch to McCain due to racism.  Certainly showing himself (his black face) publicly right before the election will not help, alas.

[MODU]

No/Yes. 

I might catch part of it, just to see what he's trying to sell, but I am usually bored by lectures.  He might get some bump out of it, but I don't think it would be much.  30 minutes is an awfully long time for someone who isn't already a true believer to sit and listen to someone pat their own back.

[Silent Hunter]

No to the former (British).

Probably no to the latter.

We have political infomericals in the UK in lieu of TV advertising. Most people change channel during them.

[davajuan]

No/No.

Obama can't improve his standing in the polls as the remaining voters are all racist.  Even about 3-5 points of his current support is going to switch to McCain due to racism.  Certainly showing himself (his black face) publicly right before the election will not help, alas.

Are you serious? Stereotype ever?

[Keystone Phil]

I'm going out for the Phillies but the place where I'm watching the game may have it on at the very beginning. If not, I'm recording it and will watch it later.

Are you serious? Stereotype ever?

My friend, it's opebo. You'll come to better understand him if you stick around for him.

[cinyc]

One of the best parts will be how the news media will be talking about it for 24 hours, even if it's neutral, McCain needs to win some news cycles.

I figure the Obama campaign can put on a good show, maybe a small bounce initially too.

I expect the McCain campaign to do something to partially preempt Obama's infomercial taking over 24 hours of the news cycle, like they did with his Veep selection.  No way McCain lets Obama win 24 hours of the cycle.

[TheGlobalizer]

Honestly, I'm not sure any undecideds really want to listen to Obama speak for a solid half hour, unless he is actually going to start saying something concrete instead of speaking in broad brush strokes.  A policy proposal would help, but frankly, I think people are getting sick of seeing his commercials.  I mean, I live in MD and watch Baltimore market TV (very limited reach into PA, York area mostly) -- I can only imagine what it's like in a state that actually matters in this election.  It's like, yeah, we get the point already.  Say something new or go away.

Also, any bump will be somewhat negated by those people pissed that their regular show times got delayed by this nonsense.  (Especially the World Series viewers, and especially if the game goes late.)

Personally, I'll read the pundit reviews of it.  I don't need to do the heavy lifting, as my vote is firm for McCain at this point.

The producers of Pushing Daisies have to be loving life.

[Torie]

No/No. I am not a masochist.

[davajuan]

No/yes.

A bump, but probably not the kind he wants at this point. Some people may bump the set enough for it to fall over and smash into smithereens. We've seen this guy's face for two years solid now!

It makes opebo's comment about Americans seeing Obama and realizing he's black even more ludicrous/hilarious.

[Lunar]

One of the best parts will be how the news media will be talking about it for 24 hours, even if it's neutral, McCain needs to win some news cycles.

I figure the Obama campaign can put on a good show, maybe a small bounce initially too.

I expect the McCain campaign to do something to partially preempt Obama's infomercial taking over 24 hours of the news cycle, like they did with his Veep selection.  No way McCain lets Obama win 24 hours of the cycle.

Well, then that means that he loses one stunt that he could have used to dominate the news cycle a different day.

[DownWithTheLeft]

Possibly if I go to the gym later/No, if anything McCain may get a bump

[Lunar]

Did Perot get hurt from his infomercials?



Or is it just candidates that y'all disagree with that get "backlash" from every single possible action they could take?

[The Mikado]

No/No.

But it can't hurt!

[opebo]

...We've seen this guy's face for two years solid now!

It makes opebo's comment about Americans seeing Obama and realizing he's black even more ludicrous/hilarious.

I didn't mean to imply that they don't realize he is a black.  I was referring to their emotional response to seeing his face.

[anti_leftist]

Did Perot get hurt from his infomercials?



Or is it just candidates that y'all disagree with that get "backlash" from every single possible action they could take?

Did Perot's infomercial delay the resumption of a potentially decisive World Series game? Were Perot and his supporters completely over-saturated in the media coverage for the better part of a year prior to the infomercials? Did Perot's ads completely blanket every swing state for months prior to the infomericials?


I'm not saying for certain that the infomercials will create a backlash and have a net negative effect for Obama, but given the circumstances I really wouldn't be surprised if they did to at least some extent.

[DownWithTheLeft]

I could see a few (by a few I mean no more than 10,000-100,000) Phillies fans getting really pissed about Obama delaying game

[Citizen James]

Maybe/negligible

I think this will be more about firing up supporters for the GOTV operations than changing minds.