He's Everywhere: Obama Wraps Small-Screen Barrage With 'Daily Show' Appearance

ABC was the only major broadcast network not in on Barack Obama's prime-time ad, but the candidate did chat with Charles Gibson. (Abc News)

Just to make sure we're clear here:

1. ABC News

2. Covering the campaign strategy of a presidential candidate -- the country's historic first African American major-party presidential candidate

3. Using quotes from former "Survivor" contestant turned daytime-TV hostess

4. And, again, not to put too fine a point on it -- ABC News.

Back in the comfort of her own show, ABC's syndicated "The View," Hasselbeck toned it down a bit. "I just think at this point to spend $1 million per network on this ad seems a little excessive," she said.

"It bothers me a bit we can't ask him -- it's a 30-minute ad. . . . People I think have a lot of questions, especially now, given his spread-the-wealth conversation," Hasselbeck told the other Ladies of "The View." (Babs was noticeably missing, though it's also her show.)

Moderator Whoopi Goldberg explained, slowly, to Hasselbeck that when people contribute to Obama's campaign, "that money is not meant to be given to the person to go and give to charity. . . . That is to get out [the candidate's] word. And he's doing it. And I think you can't fault the guy. I'm pretty sure if John McCain had the opportunity and the dough, he would probably do the same thing, as most candidates would."

"But Barack broke his promise -- he said he'd take public financing," Hasselbeck whined.

"That's the point you want to make. The point that I am making is that the people gave him this money to do exactly what he's doing with it," Whoopi shot back.

"GMA" also trotted out footage of the last presidential candidate to make campaign time buys: billionaire Ross Perot in 1992, making his case by using flow charts, to which he pointed with a "voodoo stick" Perot said had been sent to him by some lady.

"It's unclear that Senator Obama will use flow charts or not," ABC News's senior national correspondent Jake Tapper told viewers at home.

Nice.

Tapper also noted that Obama was running a grave "oversaturation" risk, because his 30-minute message to voters will appear on three whole broadcast networks and a handful of cable nets, not to mention a same-day sit-down on ABC's own evening newscast and an appearance on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show."

Over at NBC's "Today" show, Chris Matthews likened the time buy to the election-eve speech John F. Kennedy delivered from Faneuil Hall in Boston 48 years ago, and said what Obama needs to do in his 30 minutes is make white men feel better.

"The toughest thing that neither candidate has really done yet, and Barack included, they haven't really gone to the American male -- white male, if you want to put it that way, brutally -- and said to them, 'Look, you've got a tough row to hoe. . . . You take pride in providing for your family and putting food on the table and maybe getting the kids into college. . . . I'm going to help you do it. I'm not going to get in the way with high taxes. . . . I'm going to be one of your helpers. I'm not going to get in your way,' " Matthews said Obama needs to say.

CBS's "The Early Show" went out and found two former White House gofers -- Dee Dee Myers and Dan Bartlett -- to debate the merits of the time buy. Myers, who was an aide to Bill Clinton, noted this is the first time a real contender for president has had the resources to make a time buy across three broadcast networks and multiple cable nets. Bartlett, a former George W. Bush aide, said Obama ran the risk of looking like he thinks he already has the job, "taking over network time like this."

During his one-on-one with Obama for the ABC evening newscast, Charlie Gibson was not joined by Hasselbeck, and he did not talk to Obama over his Skinny Glasses of Intimidation and did not ask him to explain the Bush Doctrine. Instead, Gibson asked Obama such penetrating questions as: "Finish this sentence: 'On November 5, I'm so happy I won't have to . . .' "

(Obama went with "pack.")