Just starting a thread discussing Senator Obama's 30min infomercial airing tonight on CBS, NBC, BET, MSNBC, Univision and FOX.

Apparently it will be a mix of the Senator speaking and points of view from voters and supporters.

I wonder if Oprah will make an appearence? Fox News is in a real uproar about it, they've run the sound bite with McCain promising he would never delay the start of a baseball game if he was president. Of course, Fox hasn't mentioned that they agreed to forego the pre-game show and the game will not be delayed by the Infomercial.

The fact that it's being called an infomercial makes me giggle. I wish it were shot in infomercial format.

[black and white footage of war with Iraq]
"Oh no, not again!"

"Want that one gadget that fixes everything? Get your Baronco today!"

I kid, I love the guy, voted for him down here in Bushyland.

:::slow clap:::

I can exhale now. It was good, very good.

I have never wanted someone for my president more.

When they got to the point where he was mentioning his Mom dying from cancer I just broke down.

Production values? Pitch perfect. Connecting to the middle class? Absolutely. Heartstrings pulled? Bigtime!

Gawd, He's just gotta win.

I loved it. Smart move, but really interesting and heartfelt.

I can picture him in the Oval Office for sure.

Without question, the other side is going to have some serious sour grapes whining.

It was good. Very good!

I will admit that I cried when they showed the regular folks who are struggling. I'm a big softy.

Plus, I was bawling when he talked about his mom dying from cancer, but I do that every time he mentions his mom. I lost two family members from cancer (Six weeks apart) in 2007, though.

How could anyone watch that poor woman rub cream on her gnarled fingers and her tired, broken husband head off to his job at Wal-Mart at 72 years old, after working his whole life for his supposed retirement and not be moved?

Yet I'm sure there will be snarking o'plenty from Morning Shmoe and the likes of Faux News anyway.

And the man who worked for years, expecting a pension of 1,500 only to have the owners burn through millions, and leave him with 300+ a month to live on as a retiree? I was pissed on his behalf. I must be a socialist too, because I wished that as President Obama would pass a law that says companies cannot fuck with their employees retirement money that they collected for years! Or take it out of their hands completely and put it into some sort of trust. I dunno, I'm no economist, I just want some justice for these poor old people.

The fact that McCain had ad buys for his commercial right after left a bad taste on what was a great high. I couldn't even stand to hear it after something so uplifting.

I'm ready to go out immediately after he's elected, and continue donating time and energy to the community, in his name. Just to show the ones who think it's all hype and bullshit that no, this man really CAN move people to want to do more, to give a damn and believe they can make a difference - and actually get them to do it.

Suck on that, McCain!

I freely admit that I cried. At the end, when they cut to the live speech, I surged to my feet. I even wanted to cheer out loud. (It helps that I'm in Florida and I could pretend he was speaking directly to me.)

I think the commercial did exactly what it set out to do. I can't wait to see the poll numbers after today, and find out how many undecided voters made up their minds because of tonight.

Word. I'm right there with you. My involvement in this process does NOT end on November 5 (well, after I recover from what I hope is a victory hangover). I'm proud to say I've already voted and I voted for the guy (made my mind up last January). And I think the sentiment above is what Barack has been talking about this week on the stump in terms of sacrifice. This IS about US, not him, and he will need all of US to help.

I would hope the red-staters would take that to heart.

I'm sure it was entirely a coincidence that the elderly couple in Ohio, the one with the wife with serious medical problems and the husband reluctantly working at WalMart when he should be retired, are both 72. The same age as John McCain. Toooootally a coincidence.

Rachel Maddow had a great line tonight about the ad... "You had me at the waving grain."

We have laws regulating pension plans. ERISA. Covers health care and pension plans.
ETA: Clearly it either didn't protect that guy sufficiently or something. But there is existing law on the subject.

I was on my feet as well. I was worried that he was going to spend the half hour talking percentages and using pie charts, but in my mind, it was time (and money) well spent.

I'm sure it didn't sway the members of my family who already write him off as being a Marxist/Communist/Terrorist/Arab family man, but if anyone watched with an open heart and an open mind, even a skeptic might think, "Maybe this guy's got the right idea."

I'm dying here, skittl3862.

I'm glad I'm not the only softy here; this got me in a big way. This is the first time I have ever been so intensely focused on politics and the election, going so far as to contribute to a campaign that I truly believe in. Even my husband (who hasn't voted in 30 years) is on the bandwagon and we are ready to go out and cast our votes (damn you MD for not having early voting!).

All those people in the ad touched me because I know folks just like them who are struggling for every dime.

Obama HAS to win. I will be devastated if he does not. Cannot imagine Grampy and Caribou Barbie leading our country.

After it was over I wanted to rush out and knock on all my neighbors' doors and explain why they should vote for Obama. We have already converted several people to our side, so I guess I'll have to settle for that.

The ad was just so well done. I think almost everyone could emphatize with the stories of regular Americans, and I could not help but get misty-eyed when Barack was talking about his mother dying. As others have already mentioned, Obama just has to got to win.

Regardless of who you vote for, you have to admit that Obama has run a stellar campaign and throughout it all has appeared far more Presidential and than McCain.

It was great. I was already convinced ages ago (originally for Clinton, but emphatically got behind Obama once it was his race) but I felt such a connection to the man yesterday. He looks, sounds and acts like a president should. He comes off very confident and I have total confidence in him that he will successfully lead us into the next 8 years (that's right. I'm thinking way ahead.)

Bonus points for not even mentioning McCain once. That's how it always should be.

Early ratings are in for this. From pifeedback.com --
(Doesn't include MSNBC, Univision, BET, and TVONE.)

1 rating point equals 1% of the total households in the US, which is around 112,000,000, so the 17.8 HH rating equals about 20 million households. The 29 share means that 29% percent of households who were watching something on TV, were viewing this TV spot on NBC, CBS, and FOX combined.

* * *

Viewer ratings are now in (from pifeedback.com):

MSNBC's Countdown got 2.8 million viewers on Tuesday, so there might be another 2-3 million viewers on MSNBC, plus more via Univision, BET, and TVONE.

* * *

The animated "O" logo graphic at the end seemed just like a production company 'vanity' logo (I'm sure there's a jargon term for this, though my mind is drawing a blank at the moment). The fly-in of the parts of the "O" logo was totally unexpected, so I a bit wowed by the animation.

Also, I was surprised that there wasn't a direct plea to go vote -- such as voting early in states which allow that.

Edited to add the new ratings info.

Does anyone know if this will be re-run or online? Sometimes I hate working 2nd shift...

I don't know about reruns, but I missed it also and watched it on Youtube. I think it is also on Obama's site.