I was rooting for Tampa Bay, but now I'm hoping that the Phillies end this thing tonight

[mtnsnake]

If the series continues past tonight, and Obama's half hour ad delays the start of Game 6, there is going to be outrage and phone calls by tons of sports fans who find out all of a sudden that politics has delayed the start of their game. There will also be tons of false outrage created and instigated by the media, complete with interviews from plenty of Joe the Baseball Fans.

I think Obama has run a near flawless campaign up until now, but I haven't liked this idea from the very beginning.

[ShortnFiery]

1. No, a 15 minute delay is not going to cause a meltdown save for FOX news and GOP cronies. eom

[mtnsnake]

3. Wanna bet? There are millions of sports fans who don't follow politics

and who will be caught completely by surprise when they turn on the World Series and see Obama's ad instead. There will be outrage, much of it false, yes, but there will be outrage.

Please, please, Phillies, end this thing tonight!

[blueclown]

7. If they turn on the TV the same time for every World Series game

They will only wait 5 extra minutes for the informercial to finish before they get to watch the World Series game.

It's only 5 minutes. It's not 30 minutes. No big deal.

Really, this is all a concern about nothing. Even if there were many sports fans ticked, it is highly doubtful that this would influence any undecideds to vote for McCain.

[mtnsnake]

9. It's not 5 minutes. It's 15. That's an eternity to many fans & a slap in some of their faces.

Even if it's only a delay of a few minutes, it will seem presumptous at the very least. This just wasn't the time and place for such an ad.

[npincus]

2. I am nervous myself.

He is doing well without the ad. It introduces an element of risk. If it were Obama simply talking to the AMerican people, I would feel better. But if it is a production of sorts, it may come of as presumptous, unsubstantive, or just missing the mark in terms of what people really want to hear now.

The American electorate is UPSET... I didn't buy a fucking loaf of bread at the supermarket yeaterday because it was $4. The price of gas may be inching downwards, but food prices have yet to reflect that.

I digress. People want SUBSTANCE, want ANSWERS not a production. So, Obama may hit it out of the park, or if not, McCain may get a bump in the last few days before the election.

I don't believe Obama needed to do this, I hope he pulls it off.

And you are right-- sports fans may be pissed that their game is delayed. Go, Phillies!

[mtnsnake]

6. Exactly

This is something that just wasn't necessary, and it could backfire. I would rather have seen him continue spending the campaign money with more of his hard hitting TV ads that we've been seeing this entire campaign, but not an ad that pre-empts the World Series. I don't think anything like this has ever been done before by any candidates.

[npincus]

8. well... Ross Perot did a 30-minute ad buy

that was quite effective at the time (remember the charts and his pointer). I think that kind of simple presentation would be OK-- nothing flashy or overproduced, just Obama speaking very specifically how his policies will help improve our lives.

[mtnsnake]

12. Not during a World Series. We've already got RNC haters stirring up trouble over this...

"It's unfortunate that the World Series' first pitch is being delayed for Obama's political pitch. Not only is Obama putting politics before principle, he's putting it before our national pastime," Republican National Committee spokesman Alex Conant said in a statement.
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2008/10/world_series_ga.html

We just don't need to give those assholes any leverage at this point.

[yodermon]

17. who cares? they'll invent "leverage" out of whole cloth anyway.

fuck em

[mtnsnake]

18. Yes they will, but I just wish this ad pre-empting the World Series never happened

The repukes are going to make this sound like Obama violated the flag by causing a minor delay in the start of the game (America's favorite pastime). They'll be whining that baseball is as American as apple pie. You just don't fuck with that and blah blah blah they're gonna say.

They'll also have every Repuke in the country call in to Fox Sports complaining about it.

[blueclown]

4. Sports fans can watch an extra 5 minutes.

This is a terrific idea by Obama.

Game 6s are always the highest rated World Series games, and he will get plenty of viewership from the Tampa and Philadelphia viewing markets in two critical swing states.

[rateyes]

5. Game 6 might be moved a day later because of the rest

of game 5 today. If that happens, there won't be a game tomorrow to be delayed.

[kid a]

10. why do you hate sports fans?

:sarcasm:

[mtnsnake]

13. LOL

[ecstatic]

11. to be honest, I am worried about a backlash too

Overkill comes to mind. Whoever doesn't know Obama by now will never know him.

[malik flavors]

14. Yea, I have a bad feeling about a backlash if Obama holds up the game.

[mwb970]

15. It's weird that a baseball game can affect a presidential election.

Usually, they take place in separate realms. As it often does, TV provides the link.

[vanderBeth]

16. I'm rooting for for Phillies too

but not for those reasons. :hide: