October 11, 2008

Saturday and a riddle

We spent today driving down to Lawton to watch OU lose to Texas with some friends. Even though our team lost, the time was well-spent and we enjoyed the day.

Now, here is the riddle (and then I am going to light the chiminea). Last night, while watching a rerun of Frasier, I saw an ad for Obama. Why in the hell is Obama spending money in Oklahoma? I don't think I have seen ads like that here before. Does their internal polling suggest even more problems for McCain? Or is this to help downstream candidates.

I am open to explanations.

9 comments:

gblackwell said...

I saw one during SNL and thought the same thing: why? My first response was "money to burn." That's all I've come up w/ so far, but I'll keep thinking.

gblackwell said...

Here's another: maybe we don't understand how certain blocks of advertising are purchased? I know it's by "markets," but perhaps some markets cross state lines. That is, maybe it's a "buy Missouri, get Oklahoma free" situation. Seems unlikely, but it's a thought.

Streak said...

That second one has some merit, though I think Missouri has been hammered with ads from both sides. This just seems weird.

The Obama ground game is all about GOTV, so that may be what is driving this too.

gblackwell said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Streak said...

I can't get the link to work. Not sure why.

gblackwell said...

(EDIT w/ better link ...)

My thinker wasn't producing adequate results, so I posted the question to askmetafilter. Lots of thinks = lots of very good answers. Thanks for the intriguing question.

Streak said...

National cable buy makes the most sense. But several of those ads I saw were on local reruns, and not on national shows. And, if I am not mistaken, saw some local Obama ads on the baseball game today.

I suspect it is the push for downstream candidates that makes the most sense. Thanks for asking and linking.

Anonymous said...

Has to be the same here in CT. I saw an Obama ad for the first time the other night. Can't say I've even seen a McCain ad here in an area that is heavily Obama-leaning, except for a few of the smaller affluent towns. I wondered why as well. It wasn't cable, as we only have antenna! There is a big congressional battle going on in our area, a Democrat is trying to defeat incumbent Christopher Shays. I imagined as well that it had to do with supporting the Democratic challenger.

Anonymous said...

We were all discussing this same question while watching the game Saturday. Whatever the reason I am glad he is advertising here, I think it helps Rice, who is getting hammered by Inhoff. Some really nasty ads.