View our exclusive photos of Barack Obama on the campaign trail »
Barack Obama owned the airwaves Wednesday night. The presidential candidate preempted prime-time TV for his “infomercial” special and then showed up again for a late-night appearance on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show.”
With the race for the White House in its final days, the senator from Illinois used the 8 p.m. EST 30-minute time slot to win over those last few undecided voters.
Key moments from his campaign speeches were overlaid with scenes of America’s Heartland and images of faithful supporters. Obama used four middle-class families struggling to make ends meet to push his economic recovery plan, tax cuts for the middle class and health-care system reforms. The special was peppered with interviews from political constituents and Obama’s own personal reflections on his family and career in politics.
The half-hour closed with a live rally speech from Florida, a key battleground state, where Obama has a four-point edge over GOP candidate John McCain, according to a CNN/Time/Opinion Research Corp. poll.
“We will not just win in Florida, we will win this election and change this world,” Obama told the crowd.
The broadcast was likely aimed at swaying undecided female voters who wait until the last week to decide, Democratic strategist Jim Jordan told Yahoo! News.
The special aired on NBC, CBS, FOX, Univision, BET, MSNBC and TV One, at a cost of between $3 and $5 million, according to Yahoo! News.
Three hours later, Obama was back on air live via satellite exchanging laughs with “The Daily Show” host Jon Stewart.
During the interview, the two touched upon the long road leading up to the election and the often heated battles between the Obama and McCain camps. The McCain camp has repeatedly tried to label Obama-most recently for having socialist views. Stewart wryly asked the senator if this latest attack was true.
Obama chuckled, smiled and quipped: “I think they found proof that when I was in kindergarten I shared some toys with my friends.”