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Obama can draw viewers

Posted by Foon Rhee, deputy national political editor March 25, 2009 06:07 PM

He might not be getting all the love he wants on Capitol Hill or from the press corps, but President Obama is still getting boffo TV ratings.

Nielsen Media Research reported late today that Obama's prime-time news conference Tuesday night drew more than 40 million viewers, winning a combined household rating of 25.9 percent of all TVs in use. That was down, however, from the 49.5 million who saw his first prime-time press conference on Feb. 9, Nielsen said.

Last week, his appearance on the "Tonight Show with Jay Leno" helped the talk show score its highest rating since January 2005, when "Tonight" did a Johnny Carson tribute show.

And about 38 million watched his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention last August, the biggest-ever audience for a convention speech at the time, until Republican rival John McCain slightly outdrew him a week later.

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