Wednesday night is the night Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama will appear on your television screen starting with 8 p.m. for 30 minutes in order to convince you to vote for him next week. The paid  political ad is set to air on all major TV networks such as CBS, NBC, Univision, Fox, MSNBC, and BET, but not ABC; tune in for "Pushing Daisies"!

Described by the Obama campaign as a "program," the half-hour will present "the specifics of Obama's plans to turn the economy around and get the country back on track," according to a statement from campaign spokesman Nick Shapiro.

NBC was among the first to agree on selling Obama's camp the program time, at around $1 million. While Fox Broadcasting joined the field after the Major League Baseball agreed to delay the start time of tonight's World Series game, and CBS pushed "The New Adventures of Old Christine" to 8:30 p.m. and dumped an episode of its new series "Gary Unmarried," in order to make room for Obama's ad, ABC missed out on the million dollar payday because the network wanted to protect its struggling Wednesday lineup, according people familiar with the discussions who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.

By the time ABC decided to make the 8 p.m. EDT Wednesday slot available for Obama's spot, his campaign had already finalized the ad buy.

"We had already committed our resources by the time they offered us the time," an Obama campaign spokesman told the Los Angeles Times.

The move prevents a viewing roadblock from happening. It occurs when all the broadcast networks air the same program simultaneously. The most notable roadblock may be the celebrity-studded two-hour "America: A Tribute to Heroes" fundraiser for victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, which was telecast simultaneously on not only the broadcast networks but many cable networks, as well.

ABC begun airing ads telling viewers they have a choice, they can either "get political with the other networks," or watch an episode of the hour-long "Pushing Daisies" which ABC will broadcast at that time as scheduled, The Associated Press reported, thus making it easier for anyone who wants to avoid Obama's public notice. "Pushing Daisies," which is trying to make a comeback after being wilted due to last winter's Hollywood writers' strike, has been drawing very low numbers this year, around 6 million viewers a week.

The Illinois senator's half-hour TV buy tonight is not the first one of its kind. Texan Independent candidate for presidency H. Ross Perot talked to Americans directly in 1992 airing his own infomercial - during prime time - complete with charts to solidify his points. Extremely wealthy, Perot had no problem coming up with the cash to purchase the prime slots to air his infomercial. However, though wealthy and flush with cash, Perot could not buy the 1992 election, even with a prime time infomercial to reach the masses.