Obama takes his case to country with infomercial

NORFOLK, Va. -- Barack Obama, hoping to build momentum heading into the Nov. 4 elections, is mounting a full-court press on television Wednesday including an interview with a prominent network anchor, a taped appearance on a comedy show and a 30-minute infomercial across most networks.

His high-profile campaigning in Florida will also include his first joint appearance on the stump with former President Bill Clinton that will likely draw national news coverage.

His Republican rival, John McCain, who is also in Florida, will try to counter some of the Obama TV blitz with an appearance on CNN's Larry King Live.

Obama's 30-minute ad will air at 8 p.m. ET on CBS, NBC and Fox at a cost of around $1 million per network. It will also run on Univision, BET, MSNBC and TV One.

The infomercial will combine Obama's "description of the challenges facing the country" with vignettes of four families he's encountered on the campaign, said his chief strategist, David Axelrod. It will also feature a live segment from an Obama rally in Florida.

Axelrod said the campaign chose a 30-minute format to distinguish the ad from other political commercials. "The airways are glutted with 30-second ads and it's hard to break through," he said.

Axelrod said the timing was aimed at influencing voters as they weigh their choice in the final days of the campaign. "Late enough to do us some good but early enough to do us some good," he said.

McCain crisscrossed the Sunshine State in an effort to rally critical support in the traditional Republican stronghold that President Bush carried twice.

"We've got to win the state of Florida, my friends," McCain told supporters at a lumber yard in Miami, noting that his campaign is "a few points down" nationally and "the pundits have written us off."

McCain's lead pollster, Bill McInturff, in a memo released by the campaign, takes issue with a flurry of polls giving Obama a notable edge in polls in key battleground states. McInturff argues that the McCain campaign is "functionally tied" across these states and says undecided voters will break heavily for the Republican candidate.