Barack Obama is buying a half-hour slot on television networks in prime time on 29 October, the anniversary of Black Tuesday of 1929, when panic in the stock markets set in ahead of the Great Depression.


Obama declined to say whether he planned to address the current economic crisis. The campaign also refused to say how much the ads would cost. But such a vast purchase of commercial airtime is a multi-
million-dollar expense.


Obama has been spending dramatically on ads, overshadowing John McCain and the Republican National Committee.


The last candidate to make such a purchase was independent candidate Ross Perot in 1992.