April 10, 2008

Oprah pays the price

Is Oprah Winfrey's support of Barack Obama cutting into her popularity?

"I think," she told old Lar [Larry King], "that my value to him, my support of him, is probably worth more than any check." Although, to be honest, her estimated $2.5 billion in wealth could buy an awful lot of TV ads in Indiana. It might even be able to purchase the Hoosier State.  

But little attention has been paid to the effect of Obama on Oprah. Now along comes Costas Panagopoulos, an assistant professor of political science at New York's Fordham University, to ask and answer just that question.

Writing at Politico.com, he suggests the aging empress of TV has paid a price for getting into the dirty business of politics with and for her man Barack. By August last year, a CBS poll found her favorabe rating had plunged from 74% to 61%, still twice as good as the president but nearly a 20% drop.

Notice that the LA Times doesn't appear to think much of Indiana.

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