Yang's Convention Bet

To recap: following Barack Obama's 38 million ratings performance at the DNC, I noted how it was significantly higher than the 25-27 million ratings 4 years ago. To which Matt wagered that John McCain's speech should draw comparable ratings.

So if McCain draws 34M or more I will have to buy snacks for teamLARD on Saturday, otherwise Matt will be the one doing snack duty.

The way it is shaking out it sure looks like it the bet is tilting my way. Aside from the Labor Day lull that undermined day 1 of RNC (something that planned to some extent: they were going to stick the highly unpopular GWB on Monday where he would have the lowest visibility), hurricane Gustav and the ghost of Katrina sucked all the oxygen out of the the RNC.

Additionally, the whole Sarah Palin mess is shaping up to give the RNC a real train wreck quality to it. It's not a good sign when you are doing damage control 3 days after you announce your VP pick. And the RNC is scrambling to swap out Rudy Giuliani with Fred Thompson as its keynote speaker. While neither one's oratorical skills can be remotely compared to Barack Obama, Fred Thompson generates as much excitement as last night's pizza.

I offered to give Matt a mis-bet on the account of the sheer incompetence of the GOP, but he decided to stick with the wager anyway. Well, I guess I should think of getting something on the small possibility that the RNC might pull something out of their hat...

[UPDATE] Matt would like to state that my original offer to call off the bet at his convenience was due to hurricane Gustav. I thought I had cited both, but I guess it was lost during translation. Matt also would like to state that the timeline for paying off the bet is not strictly Saturday, but I some future teamLARD practice; I had simply assumed it to be the case.