Rays of hope from Obama

My local izakaya is never going to find its way into a Michelin guide; indeed the relative popularity it enjoys is more a reflection of the lack of competition in the area than anything else, but the beers are cold and the bill always comes to less than you thought it would.

I was seated at the counter about a week ago nursing the remnants of a bottle of Iki no hana when in walked Junkichi Tano, a man with an opinion on everything and a near pathological love of his own voice. Normally being accosted by him usually means for me, the town foreigner, listening to tales of how good he used to be at English before he forgot “how to talking.”

Upon seeing me, Tano proudly announced that he had been a Tampa Bay fan since seeing them beat the Texas Rangers at Disney World, despite former Yakult Swallows third baseman Akinori Iwamura being on the disabled list. Tano was delighted that Gan-chan and the Rays had made it to the World Series, and although he was sure they’d win in five, he was rather incredulous that the start of game 6 was going to be delayed to allow a 30-minute ad by Democratic candidate Barack Obama to be aired and went to great lengths to assure me that such a thing would never happen in Japan.

I must admit that my first thoughts were to the fact that the last presidential candidate to buy a prime-time spot on national TV was Ross Perot, but I was sure that was not going to interest the drunk Mr. Tano, who had stepped up a gear as he lurched headlong into his inevitable “We Japanese” polemic with proselytizing zeal.

Tano was firmly convinced that Western concepts like democracy didn’t belong in Japan and was greatly comforted by the relative apathy of the Japanese public to things political as evidenced in his assertion that no baseball game in Japan would ever be made to wait by a politician. He was also pleased to that democracy itself, as far as he could ascertain, was unpopular in the West, too, with voter turnout in American elections typically even lower than those in Japan.

However, Tano’s memory was typically selective in citing poor voting turnout in mid-1990s elections in both the United States and Japan to support his contention, coming as they did in 1995 from widespread distrust in the marriage-of-convenience LDP/SDP coalition in Japan and the belief in the U.S. that the result of the 1996 presidential election was a forgone conclusion – the reality is that recent elections have seen increased turnouts in both countries. In Japan, voter turnout came to 67.5% in the 2005 Lower House election, 7.6% higher than in 2003 and the highest of the four most recent general elections, while in the United States, there was a 56.2% turnout in 2004, 5.9% higher than in 2000.

That all said and let’s not get too bogged down with the drunken ramblings in my local watering-hole, could anything be read into Major League Baseball’s willingness to accommodate the wishes of politicians and the networks? Although the way things are going, wondering about delaying the start of a baseball game might be purely academic – as Joe Blanton became the first pitcher in 34 years to hit a home-run in the World Series and the heart of the Rays lineup continued to put up A-Rod numbers, the Phillies moving a game closer to winning a championship for Philadelphia and ending a 25-year wait for the city’s rabid sports fans.

According to reports, the Obama campaign initially purchased half-hour of prime time (from 8-8:30 p.m. ET) on CBS and NBC, discussions with ABC have as yet not have not resulted in any agreement. FOX, which has broadcast rights to Game 6, then sold the same half-hour slot for just under $1 million after MLB agreed to the network’s request to move back the game’s start time, this will see the ad broadcast before the game in the eastern and central time zones and afterwards elsewhere.

Quite a shock when you read the headline but in fact, it’s not unprecedented for a sports event to be moved to accommodate a political broadcast. In September, the National Football League moved the kickoff time of the opening-night game to 7 p.m. to make sure the game would be over before Senator John McCain stepped up to the podium to accept the nomination of the Republican Party during its national convention.

Apparently, similar time has been made available by the networks to McCain but it is most unlikely that he will copy the move due to financial restraints as his campaign has accepted public financing, which means his campaign is limited in the amount of money it can raise and spend. Whereas Obama entered October with $133.6 million in cash reserves, McCain held only $47 million; and because Obama chose to ignore a pledge to broker an agreement with McCain to run with public dollars, money continues to roll into to his coffers.

The Obama campaign took a calculated risk in deciding that it would be worth a degree of public backlash to gain the virtual blanket coverage afforded by running a campaign advertisement on three of the four main television networks, with Pennsylvania predicted to go to Obama anyway the risk is not so great and in Florida with the Rays fan base only small and a significant number of Florida residents coming from out of state and supporting other teams any complaints mustered are unlikely to amount to much.

Indeed, while baseball fans in Internet forums have been up in arms about the enforced delay; there has been little other dissent beyond Republican cries that airing the 30-minute ad would be “putting politics before our national pass-time” and fans of “The New Adventures Of Old Christine” and “Knight Rider” affected by CBS and NBC decisions are as yet remaining quiet.

Ultimately, Obama in purchasing TV air time and thus forcing the delay of game 6 is part of a wider “roadblock” strategy to prevent viewers channel-surfing away from the broadcast because it is being carried by so many different stations and allow one final push to get his message out to a national audience.

It has nothing to do with baseball and more to do with the changing face of electoral politics with money playing an increasing role as more and more of it gets spent. At preset, McCain is significantly hampered by his diminishing funds and the inability to take direct control of Republican National Committee funds has forced his campaign to effectively curtail the number of states he is competing in while allowing Obama to outspend him by up to three or four times on television advertising, creating a huge disparity in the candidates ability to reach the voters.

As for game six of the World Series, there hasn't been one since 2003; but best not tell that to Junkichi Tano as he strolls happily off toward the liquor store, his adopted Rays living to fight another day.

© Japan Today