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Saturday, Nov. 01, 2008

ESPN is prep for the next day's big game

Barack "Paper Scissors" Obama?

John "Citizen" McCain?

A public servant runs almost non-stop for almost two years in hopes of reaching the White House and, on Election Eve, still has to make nice with a guy who made his name by giving jocks clever (and not-so-clever) nicknames.

Sportscaster Chris Berman _ whom no one ever will confuse with the late Tim Russert, or young Luke Russert, for that matter _ is set to interview Sens. McCain and Obama in separate satellite interviews that will run during halftime of ESPN's "Monday Night Football," ostensibly because no candidate willingly passes up a free chance to reach 12 million or so Joe and/or Josie Football Fans just hours before polls open.

It's a fitting end to a campaign trail that has passed through "American Idol," "Last Comic Standing" and "WWE Raw" pro wrestling because viewers are splintered every which way and the pols had to chase them down.

Carpetbombing them with ads wasn't enough. After all, one result of the Obama campaign's $3.5 million-to-$4 million buy of a half-hour on CBS, NBC and Fox, as well as a few cable channels Wednesday, was to give ABC's alternative offering, the quirky "Pushing Daisies," its biggest audience of the season.

How candidates fare in Studio 8H at 30 Rock, home of " Saturday Night Live," has become as important as how they fared in New Hampshire, if not more so. "The View" is almost on equal footing with "Meet the Press."

You knew we had gone a long way from even JFK with Jack Paar, Nixon on "Laugh-In" and Clinton and his sax on "Arsenio" when you heard Mario Lopez of "Saved by the Bell" was quizzing Obama for the pseudo-news show "Extra."

It's amazing the candidates weren't holding briefcases 12 and 17 on "Deal or No Deal," explaining how winners and losers would be affected by their respective tax plans.

Not every entertainment appearance was scripted, and in fact David Letterman and Jon Stewart slid in a few tough questions between the jokes.

Berman isn't likely to ask about subsidies for stadiums and antitrust exemptions or how the candidates feel about regulation of cable and broadcast TV.

But with the clock winding down on Campaign '08, you just know he's just itching to say one of them could ... go ... all ... the ... way.