| | McCain veers off script to bash Obama 'infomercial'
Slams World Series delay that netted Fox $1MJohn McCain panned Barack Obama's purchase of a half-hour of airtime Wednesday, potentially delaying the start of a World Series game by about 15 minutes.
McCain was in the middle of a riff about the presumptuousness of Obama -- who leads in virtually every poll and is predicted to win the presidency by just about every political observer not drawing a paycheck from the McCain campaign -- preparing to work with Congress and move into the White House.
"By the way," McCain cracked, "no one will delay the World Series game with an infomercial when I'm president."
The line, which did not appear in McCain's prepared remarks, referred to Obama's purchase of the 8 to 8:30 p.m. time slot on CBS, NBC and Fox, which is broadcasting the World Series. Game five is set to resume Wednesday after Obama's commercial.
McCain is not immune to meddling with sports schedules, though. The NFL started the broadcast of its season opener 90 minutes early to avoid conflicting with McCain's Republican Convention speech earlier this summer.
Major League Baseball accommodated Obama's desire to broadcast his half-hour message, allowing Fox to charge $1 million for the airtime -- more than CBS and NBC. Fox said it would offer McCain the same opportunity to air a half-hour spot.
A potential sixth game of the Series was scheduled for Wednesday night at 8 p.m., but Major League Baseball moved the start time to 8:35 to accommodate the Obama advertisement. The Philadelphia Phillies lead the Tampa Bay Rays three games to one in the series. Game 5 was suspended Monday night because of rain, and it is now scheduled to resume Wednesday at 8:37 p.m.
ABC waited to late to agree to Obama's offer to purchase the slot, so the network will air its regular Wednesday night programming.
Obama has vastly outspent McCain on advertising this fall, largely because of his decision to forgo public financing. McCain, who limited himself to $84 million in public funding since September, has criticized Obama for breaking his promise earlier in the campaign to agree to the same limits. Obama raised $150 million in September alone and has raked in more than $600 million over the duration of his campaign.
It is because of these unprecedented numbers that Obama is able to purchase such pricey airtime less than a week before Election Day.
This video is from CNN.com, broadcast October 28, 2008.
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