Emily Carlson's Industry Site

Get ready for a media blitz tomorrow. With Super Tuesday merely hours away, every television station in the country is getting ready for a full on press of political coverage. Forget about the half hour nightly national news. On ABC, Charles Gibson will anchor a whopping 5 hours of political coverage with Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos. Katie Couric and CBS will be on the air 2 hours, and Brian Williams will anchor an expanded version of his "Nightly News," plus a one hour update, prime time, with some of the results. Over on cable, it's an all day affair, with stations like CNN starting their coverage at 5 am and going until the wee hours of Wednesday morning. It's a far cry from Super Tuesday 4 years ago, when networks limited their coverage to quick cut-in updates. The Super Tuesday of 2004 and the Super Tuesday of 2008 couldn't be more different. In 2004, President Bush was running for re-election on the Republican side, and John Kerry was the expected shoe-in winner, crossing the finish line with 9 of the 10 Super Tuesday states. 2008 brings one of the most indecisive races ever. McCain and Romney are duking it out for the Republican nomination, while Clinton and Obama are virtually tied for the Democratic nomination. This year, one of the two will make history, becoming either the first woman or the first black presidental nominee. The tight races and historical implications has voters rushing to the polls in record numbers. In 2004, just 9 percent of South Carolina Democrats voted in their primary. A week and a half ago, 29 percent of those South Carolina Democrats voted. The way things are going, Super Tuesday could look very simmilar. Not only will more voters vote, more states are holding their primaries on Super Tuesday. In 2004, only 10 states held primaries. This year, a record 24 states will send voters to the polls. Viewers care, and the tv networks are happy to carry more coverage. The icing on the cake, however, could be the writers strike. With no new episodes of network shows to air, prime time television is open for more Super Tuesday coverage. Every where you turn on Super Tuesday, your television will be inundated with political coverage. People are excited. The country, it sems, is eager for change. It will be a much different Super Tuesday than 4 years ago.

It was a cordial, friendly, even touchy-feely debate. Gone were the raised voices and personal attacks of past meetings; last night at Kodak Theatre, Sen. Barak Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton set a new, warmer debate atmosphere. It's the first head to head debate since John Edwards announced his withdrawl from the presidental race. And that meant the pressure was on last night, as both Obama and Clinton jockeyed to win over former Edwards supporters and undecided voters. But why this new civil approach? Why do Clinton and Obama seem to suddenly be pals? One theory is an Obama-Clinton, or Clinton-Obama ticket. Both dodged the question last night, saying there was a big difference between those two choices. The other anwser to the question of why the two put forth this new cordial atmosphere could be that neither canidate seems to be feeling the pressure of losing everything on Super Tuesday. It could be so tight next week that the fate of who the next Democatic Presidental candiate could stretch all the way to the National Convention in August. Neither took crazy shots at each other, which has political analysts guessing that neither thinks they are behind. And according to MSNBC,Obama has already bought television slots well beyond Super Tuesday, suggesting he's not giving up after Febuary 5th. While Obama raised an unbeliable $32 million last month, he goes into Super Tuesday the underdog. The Wall Street Journal says Obama trails Clinton by large margins in polls in most of the big states. But as history shows, no amount of polls can predict what voters will do once they enter the voting booth. And both canidates seem very unlikely to give up the fight anytime soon.