A newspaper in the United States has hedged its bets and declared Barack Obama the winner of next weeks election. The weekly New Mexico Sun News [PDF] ran with the headline “Obama Wins!” over a picture of the Democratic presidential candidate in front of the White House. In the self declared ‘Special Collector’s Edition’, the paper says it based its headline on “extensive research, , including but not limited to, the numerous newspaper endorsements..., “gut-feelings”, and the need for the American people to have closure and certainty about something in their lives”. In an attempt to elevate the paper above other media and be first in declaring the winner, “The New Mexico Sun News hereby claims that achievement” the paper said [BBC / LA Times].
The “bold” move by the newspaper will no doubt be criticised by McCain supporters, and the Republican candidate himself who has already accused Obama of “already measuring the drapes [curtains]” at the White House. It has been an unusual election campaign, punctuated by bizarre and quirky moments, as well as the serious arguments and debates. And the debates will continue up and until the 4th of November.
Tonight, Barack Obama is taking over the airwaves on nearly every television station in the US for an unprecedented half hour broadcast. The party political broadcast won‘t quite go out on every channel after ABC pulled out of the deal. Walt Disney Co. owned ABC initially balked at selling its 20:00 slot, saying it didn't want to pull its regularly scheduled series, "Pushing Daisies," even though the show has been losing viewers. It is costing the Obama campaign $1 million to buy a slot on each of the networks that have made the deal. NBC, MSNBC, Fox, Univision and CBS will all broadcast the programme at 20:00 EDT on Wednesday night. Fox are having to reschedule the World Series Game 6 to 20:35, a condition that was approved by Major League Baseball, but is likely to upset some sports fans. CNN rejected the commercial offer saying in a statement, "We did not want to pre-empt our programing lineup with a 30-minute spot. We'd rather use our air to continue to cover the campaign, candidates and issues like we always do from all points of view with the best political team on television". The news channel said the advertisement would be covered in news bulletins however. "CNN will cover it as a news story, just like we do with all the other campaign ads" a spokesman said. Fox News said they had not been approached to broadcast the half hour 'infomercial', as it's been dubbed. The Republicans can little afford such luxuries but McCain will feature on CNN’s Larry King Live soon after the broadcast. Obama will meanwhile be appearing on the Daily Show, which will be aired in the UK on Thursday night [Sky News / BBC].
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