On Wednesday, Sept. 5, former President Bill Clinton is scheduled to give one of the most anticipated speeches of the Democratic National Convention, during which time he’ll formally offer President Obama for re-nomination. But how many Americans will actually be paying attention?
In an unfortunate bit of timing for Democrats, Clinton’s prime-time speech to the delegates will conflict with the NFL’s opening game, between the defending Super Bowl champions, the New York Giants, and their division rivals, the Dallas Cowboys. Given that the (at least) three-hour game is slated to start at 8:30 p.m. eastern time the event will take up the entire prime time period. It will also mean the Clinton speech won’t be broadcast live on NBC, which is airing the game.
One theoretical option for the Democrats would be to move the Clinton speech to 7 p.m. — but that would push him out of prime-time and mean it would air at 4 p.m. on the West Coast. Also, Massachusetts Senate candidate and liberal hero Elizabeth Warren is supposed to speak before Clinton, so such a move would push her remarks even earlier. Last year, the White House moved Obama’s jobs speech to 7 p.m. so as not to conflict with the NFL opener, and it was the lowest-rated address to a joint-session of Congress of his presidency.
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