Cheat Sheet

Let the last minute media blitz begin. Obama opens with a bunker buster of a broadcast, splashing out for his own half-hour TV special on CBS—in prime time, no less. The Live Feed reports that Obama has bought the 8 p.m. block on October 29 and is in talks with NBC and Fox, as well. Once such large buys were commonplace—Reagan delivered a famous half-hour rallying call for Goldwater—though more recent campaigns have saved cash by focusing on local TV stations in battleground states. This cycle's presidential candidates, in particular McCain, have taken advantage of the power of the web by creating headline-grabbing ads that end up running exclusively on the web or on just a few TV stations. They also splurged millions of dollars on NBC during the Olympics. Now is the time to empty the war chest, which means all eyes will be on the September fund-raising tally, which is expected to be a record-setter for Obama.