White House front runner Barack Obama is to make a 30-minute prime time television pitch to the nation tomorrow in an extraordinary climax to his presidential campaign media blitz.
The Democratic candidate, running steadily ahead of Republican John McCain in the polls a week before election day, will air the unusually long advertisement on three of the four national networks: CBS, NBC and Fox.
The slots at 8pm on the east coast and 7pm in the central zone, right before the hotly anticipated next game of baseball's World Series on Fox, could not be more choice.
At Fox's request Major League Baseball has even agreed to delay the start of the game - which could decide the seven-game series - to fit in Obama.
The Obama campaign was tight-lipped about the contents of the commercials, the first of that length to feature in a presidential campaign since billionaire Ross Perot's independent candidacy in 1992.
But the multi-million dollar barrage highlights Obama's massive war chest and the ruthless way he is using that money to blast his opponent out of the media arena.
"The discussion about this election begins and ends with Obama's fundraising ability," said Evan Tracey, head of the Campaign Media Analysis Group, which analyses campaign advertising.
Tracey calculated that the prime time splurge cost about $US5 million ($A8.3 million), while USA Today estimated the bill at about $US3 million ($A5 million).
Obama has raised record sums from private donors and total spending on campaign advertising is forecast by some to reach $US250 million ($A415 million).
That would dwarf not just McCain's spending, but that in any previous election, and, on an annualised basis, even the advertising budgets of retail giants like Burger King, Apple and Gap.
Because he accepted public campaign funding, McCain is limited to spending $US84 million ($A140 million), although that sum is substantially increased when taking into account other Republican funding.
All told, Obama will end up spending about $US100 million ($A166 million) more than McCain on advertising, Tracey said.
The funding mismatch lets Obama "drown out" McCain and "allows (his campaign) to be in multiple places with a multiple presence".
Tomorrow Obama will be doing just that - not only blocking half an hour of national television, but appearing afterwards on the popular late-night comedy program The Daily Show.
Running out of money and time, McCain had no ready response to Obama's latest assault, other than a wry promise not to interfere with baseball games.
"No one will delay the World Series with an infomercial when I'm president," he told thousands of supporters at a rally in the battleground state of Pennsylvania.
Certainly one other young American was underwhelmed: Obama's 10-year-old daughter Malia.
"She says, `You're going to be on all the TV? Are you going to interrupt my TV?'" Obama's wife Michelle recalled during an appearance on NBC.
Obama put his daughter's fears to rest, telling her that among the few channels he hadn't gobbled up were children's favourites Disney Channel and Nickelodeon.
McCain and Sarah Palin gave a show of unity on the campaign trail today, appearing together for the first time since reports of infighting within the Republican camp.
The Republican presidential hopeful launched the one-week countdown to the November 4 polls at a rally with his running mate in front of several thousand in the Pennsylvania town of Hershey, the US chocolate capital.
McCain, 72, acknowledged he had not always seen eye-to-eye with Palin, 44, the socially conservative Alaska governor whose selection as vice-presidential pick has been questioned by critics from left and right.
"When two mavericks join up they don't agree on everything but that's a lot of fun," McCain said, before once again portraying his rival Barack Obama as an ultra-liberal politician plotting to raise taxes across the board.
AFP