Obama Grants First Family Interview to 'Access Hollywood'
Democratic Candidate Allows Entertainment Program to Talk With Young Daughters
Republican pollster David Winston said, rather than engage in a war of candidate personalities, the challenge for McCain is to convince voters he would be a better president on issues, such as the economy and Iraq.
"Obama's going to win the soft side of this because, as the first African American, there's something unique about him, so people are interested," Winston said. "McCain is a war hero, but the key for the McCain campaign will be to shift the focus to the issues, and I think they're evolving on that now."
Winston admitted the McCain campaign has struggled in defining him against Obama, but said the next phase of the campaign is what counts.
"I think you're going to see a shift where McCain is going to lay out where he is on the issues," Winston said, "This is a center-right country and he is a center-right candidate, so that focus on issues has to be the strategy."
Winning the White House on Television
Appearing on infotainment programs and entertainment talk shows is nothing new for either Obama or McCain.
McCain was the first sitting U.S. senator to host "Saturday Night Live" in 2002, and has appeared numerous times on "The Daily Show with John Stewart," and late night comedy programs, including "Jimmy Kimmel Live."
Obama launched his 2006 autobiography, "The Audacity of Hope," on the Oprah Winfrey Show, and last month, the entertainment magazine Us Weekly splashed the senator and his wife on their cover -- a first for any presidential contender.
Media analysts argue that appearing on so-called "soft news" programs could be smart politicking when it comes to reaching the millions of Americans who don't follow every nuance of the long presidential campaign.
"Shows, such as 'Access Hollywood' reach individuals difficult to reach through other types of programming, who are less likely to already have decided for whom to vote, than are those in the audience for news programming," said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, a presidential scholar and director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania.
ABC News' Sunlen Miller, with the Obama campaign, contributed to this report.
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