Obama Infomercial Goes Off Without A Hitch
(CBS)
(SUNRISE, FLA.) - Barack Obama took the stage at Bank Atlantic Center tonight, minutes before his 30-minute infomercial took to the airwaves, but the two ended up merging flawlessly. The pre-taped special cut to a live shot of the rally, just as Obama began to say, “America the time for change has come.”
Obama spoke for over 30 minutes before the rally went live on TV and with the exception of Joe Biden being present, the event looked like any other. The crowd of 20,000 cheered and waved campaign signs, but it was unclear whether they knew they were on live television.
There were some telltale signs that the event was not just an ordinary rally, though. The arena was perfectly staged for the event – the lighting was dimmed, there were 2 high-definition cameras on the press riser as well as a camera on crane that panned over the crowd.
An oversized teleprompter was also attached to the front of the riser, positioned to be exactly in Obama’s line of sight. The prompter had an oversized countdown clock next to it, which turned from black to green, indicating that the rally was live.
During the two minutes that were being broadcast on three networks and two cable stations, Obama made a minute pitch to the country.
“If in this last week, you will knock on some doors for me, and make some calls for me, and go to barackobama.com and find out where to vote; if you will stand with me, and fight by my side, and cast your ballot for me, then I promise you this – we will not just win Florida, we will win this election,” Obama said to cheers.
Hoping to draw out the momentum gained from the special, Obama is headed to another big rally right featuring former President Bill Clinton.
