Beyond Books: Oprah Winfrey’s Seal of Approval Goes Presidential

BEYOND BOOKS: OPRAH WINFREY'S SEAL OF APPROVAL GOES PRESIDENTIAL
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Juston Jones]
It’s usually pretty easy to quantify what Oprah Winfrey’s stamp of approval can mean: her book club catapults titles to the top of best-seller lists, and her nods at other products send consumers racing to buy them. But does her magic touch extend to the realm of presidential politics? Last week, for the first time, Ms. Winfrey endorsed a political candidate, Senator Barack Obama, Democrat from Illinois. In an interview on “Larry King Live” on CNN, she said she was backing the senator “because I know him personally.” Ms. Winfrey said that she had not made a financial contribution to Mr. Obama’s campaign, but acknowledged that her public endorsement was probably far more valuable. Campaign finance laws would prohibit her from donating more than $2,300 in the primary and $2,300 in the general election. Even considering her broad popularity, Ms. Winfrey’s entry to the political waters does have risks, said Alex S. Jones, the director of the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University. “If you see that she has a lot of fans who are not necessarily going to vote for Barack Obama, you have to calculate that she may take a commercial hit,” he said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/07/business/media/07oprah.html
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