Barack Obama wins dubious broadcast race

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In a limited-format tally, the triple-digit lead racked up by President Barack Obama is impressive, but it’s only good if it is indeed true that there is no such thing as bad publicity. The battle was that of the late night political joke, and during 2011 Obama eclipsed #2 target Anthony Weiner by a 342-220 margin.


The study came from Center for Media and Public Affairs CMPA) and was based on just three broadcast network jokesters, NBC’s Jay Leno and Jimmy Fallon and CBS’s David Letterman.

Obama’s high profile made him an obvious target, but the sheer numbers of Republican presidential candidates (and one almost-candidate – Donald Trump) wound up with Republicans combining for almost three times as many jokes as were Democrats.

Among the candidates, Herman Cain and Rick Perry were on top, with 191 and 186 jokes respectively to go with their 3rd and 4th place finishes.

Although not exactly what you’d call an American politician, the late Osama bin Laden held down 5th place with 172 jokes.

Here is the full list from CMPA.
* Barack Obama – 342
* Anthony Weiner – 220
* Herman Cain – 191
* Rick Perry – 186
* Osama bin Laden 172
* Arnold Schwarzenegger – 142
* Michele Bachmann – 128
* Donald Trump – 122
* Muammar Khaddafi – 121
* Newt Gingrich – 110
* Sarah Palin – 109
* Joe Biden – 82
* Mitt Romney – 79
* Chris Christie – 71
* John Boehner – 69
* Dick Cheney – 66
* George W. Bush – 36
* Rupert Murdoch – 30
* Rod Blagojevich – 24
* Tie – Michael Bloomberg and Hosni Mubarek – 22