The Nielsen ratings are in for last night's Republican National Convention featuring George W. Bush, Fred Thompson and Joe Lieberman:
RNC Tuesday: 21.5 million viewers
Compare that to the Democrats Tuesday when Mark Warner and Hillary Clinton were the main speakers:
DNC Tuesday:26 million
That 21.5 million represents a slight decrease for Republicans compared to 2004 when they drew 22.2 million viewers. Thanks to mother nature, the RNC lost their first night. Democrats drew over 22.3 million on their Monday.
Tonight Republicans might do better as people tune in to see what the heck Sarah Palin might say. The DNC third night, highlighted by Joe Biden, drew 24 million viewers. Barack Obama came in just under 40 million on Thursday.
Obama will be reaching even more viewers this Thursday when he appears on Bill O'Reilly's show. In terms of reaching large numbers it's a good bet since Fox was the highest rated channel for the Republican Convention in 2004 and will likely be again the night John McCain accepts his party's nomination. I still prefer the "starve Fox of credibility" that a bunch of Republicans talking ONLY to themselves would help facilitate but you've got to like Obama's chances to make O'Reilly look silly if he tries his usual schtick. I have a feeling we'll be seeing a subdued O'Reilly, however.
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