MSNBC scores its largest audience ever with Tuesday's Dem debate

Judging by the viewing success of recent televised political debates, it seems millions of Americans are starting to pay attention to the presidential race, especially on the still unsettled Democratic side.

Thankfully hosting what will likely be the last scheduled debate of the 2007-08 presidential primary season between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, MSNBC captured a major ratings victory today. It was the Democrats' 20th such forum.

The 96-minute decorous debate, anchored by Brian Williams and Tim Russert, drew 7.8 million viewers, the biggest audience the cable news network has ever had in its 11-year history and twice the size of the channel's previous record. (But that Tuesday night audience figure did include those watching on nine local Ohio stations that simulcast the debate.)

Until now, MSNBC's largest viewership was on March 19, 2003, at the beginning of the Iraq war, when 3.7 million people tuned in.

The Democratic face-off in Cleveland was the third highest-rated debate of the season, and made MSNBC the second-most watched network between 9 and 10:30 p.m. ET in all of television on Tuesday. Only Fox did better, airing “American Idol” and “Back to You” during the debate's first hour.

MSNBC even drew more viewers than its sister broadcast network. NBC attracted an average of 6.6 million during that time period with the second half of “The Biggest Loser” and the first half of its new show “Quarterlife.”

-- Matea Gold

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[Booyaka]

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[Jerry Chui]

In his first major public address since a cancer crisis, Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan said Sunday that presidential candidate Barack Obama is the "hope of the entire world" that the U.S. will change for the better.

The 74-year-old Farrakhan, addressing an estimated crowd of 20,000 people at the annual Saviours' Day celebration, never outrightly endorsed Obama but spent most of the nearly two-hour speech praising the Illinois senator.

"This young man is the hope of the entire world that America will change and be made better," he said. "This young man is capturing audiences of black and brown and red and yellow. If you look at Barack Obama's audiences and look at the effect of his words, those people are being transformed."
HOPE OF THE ENTIRE WORLD-- ha ha ha

Farrakhan compared Obama to the religion's founder, Fard Muhammad, who also had a white mother and black father.
FOUNDER OF BLACK MUSLIMS HAD A WHITE MOTHER AND BLACK FATHER LIKE OBAMA-

"A black man with a white mother became a savior to us," he told the crowd of mostly followers. "A black man with a white mother could turn out to be one who can lift America from her fall."

Farrakhan also leveled small jabs at Hillary Rodham Clinton, Obama's rival for the Democratic nomination, suggesting that she represents the politics of the past and has been engaging in dirty politics.

Farrakhan's keynote address at McCormick Place, the city's convention center, wrapped up three days of events geared at unifying followers and targeting youth.

It had a different tone from a year ago, when Farrakhan made what was called his final public address at a Saviours' Day event in Detroit. The 74-year-old was recovering from complications from prostate cancer and months earlier had temporarily passed on leadership duties of the organization's day-to-day activities to an executive board.
© 2008 Associated Press.

(So, Jerry, what's your comment?)