The Oprah Winfrey Factor and Obama

To some, Oprah Winfrey is the closest thing to God.  She's probably the next most powerful figure in the world today.  Nobody can underestimate having Oprah on their side and this is something 2008 US Presidential candidate Barack Obama knows and has to be thankful for.  Obama has not only received Oprah's endorsement, she's actually campaigning with him.

Getting on Oprah Winfrey's yearly ``Favorite Things List'' can transform books, beauty products and foods into sales blockbusters, according to Bloomberg News reporter Julianna Goldman. Barack Obama is betting that same magic will work in politics.

From Bloomberg:

Winfrey swings through three early-voting states this weekend to support Obama's bid to become his party's nominee. In preparation, the Illinois senator's campaign has booked an 80,000-seat stadium in South Carolina, the 14,000-capacity Verizon Wireless arena in Manchester, New Hampshire, and two venues in Iowa with room for more than 11,000 people.

While Winfrey has never before endorsed a presidential candidate, her influence as a taste-maker is well-established. Holiday-season exposure on her internationally syndicated television program has catapulted items such as brownies from Moveable Feast, a Geneva, Illinois, caterer, and beauty products from Kai, a Malibu, California-based fragrance company, to the top of the Christmas season best-seller list.

Obama may need some of that Oprah Winfrey magic pretty quick though.  While Iowa polls show he is catching up to Hillary Clinton, if not surpassing her, the oddsmakers have demoted Obama to 5/1 odds, down from 7/2 at Sportsbook.com

But the power of Oprah's wish list could help propel Obama by Christmas, assuming the past is any indication.

Ciao Bella, a gelato and sorbet manufacturer, whose Blood Orange sorbet was featured on this year's holiday list, is working to keep its product in grocery freezers. In the week after the Nov. 20 show, the Irvington, New Jersey based company's Web site had 3 million hits, compared with a previous average of 175,000 hits per week, said Deborah Holt, vice president of marketing.

The Blood Orange flavor is doing so well, Holt told Bloomberg that ``it's hard to find it on a shelf right now.''

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Carrie Stroup, Gambling911.com

Originally published December 7, 2007 1:14 pm EST