Former President Bill Clinton is set to place President Obama's name into nomination by delivering a prime-time speech on Wednesday, September 5. This is a big problem.
The NFL is starting its regular season on that very night, featuring a marquee matchup between the Super Bowl champion New York football Giants and their division rival the Dallas Cowboys. The final night of a national political convention (Thursday) is when the candidate speaks. The night before, Wednesday, is typically when the candidate's name is placed into nomination, meaning that Bill Clinton will be up against the NFL's opening night.
Not good.
The whole point of having Bill Clinton give the nominating speech for Obama is to pull in moderates, independents, and blue collar white guys in places like Ohio and Pennsylvania who remember the great Clinton economy of the 90s. Millions of TV viewers across the nation will obviously choose football over a political convention on that night... including me.
If I'm Team Obama, I'd change up the traditional nightly convention schedule this year and have Obama's name placed into nomination by Clinton on Tuesday night, thus ensuring the biggest possible TV audience for Bill's speech. I don't know what they'll put on Wednesday night instead, but they can figure out something.
Bill's a star, and the Dems must maximize his presence. Putting him on opposite this key sports event seriously lessens the impact of his speech with needed November voters.