At last, it would seem that folks here in the US have gotten their priorities straight for once. The New York Times is reporting that at least 40 million folks here in the US tuned in to watch Senator Barack Obama give his nomination acceptance speech at Invesco Field in Denver, CO (which was packed with 80,000 people) on Thursday night to close out the 4-day Democratic National Convention (which means a total 40,800,000 people watched Barack Obama‘s speech in person or on TV alone). In a time where frivolities like American Idol and The Hills seems to rule supreme, more Americans tuned in to watch Obama‘s convention speech than did to even watch the Opening Ceremonies of the 2008 Summer Olympics:

At least 40 million Americans watched Senator Barack Obama accept the Democratic nomination for president Thursday night, a record for convention viewership that exceeded even the expectations of his aides. The historic speech by the first African-American presidential nominee of a major political party reached 38.4 million viewers on 10 broadcast and cable networks, Nielsen Media Research said Friday. PBS estimated that an additional 3.5 million had watched its prime-time coverage. The ratings dwarfed the audience for the Summer Olympics and the season finale of “American Idol” in May, and added to what was already a sense of buoyancy within the Obama campaign that the night had gone better than planned. Despite Republicans’ advance ridicule of the enormous venue, Invesco Field, and the set, an elaborate, columned backdrop, Democrats went to bed having heard terrific reviews of the final night of their convention. Indeed, the backdrop, initially derided as resembling a Greek temple — playing into the Republican line of attack that Mr. Obama’s supporters had deified him — turned out to be something of a hit; television reviewers and commentators praised the overall staging. “The stagecraft was so phenomenal,” Andrea Mitchell said on MSNBC, adding, “I don’t know how they could have done it any better.” The four-night convention was the most-watched since 1960, when Nielsen began measuring the events. The 10 p.m. hour, Eastern time, from Monday to Thursday was viewed by an average of 22.4 million households, Nielsen said, surpassing by half a million the Republican convention of 1976, previously top-rated. The comparisons with prior conventions come with a number of caveats: convention coverage is shown on more channels now, and the coverage is shorter, at least on the broadcast networks. Regardless, Thursday night’s record was surely impressive. The television audience for Mr. Obama’s speech was half again as large as the viewership for the acceptance speeches by President Bush and Senator John Kerry in 2004. “Obama had an opportunity to get his message across to a record-breaking crowd of millions of American voters, and he used it effectively,” said Bill Burton, a spokesman for the campaign. Demonstrating the gradual shift in the political news audience from broadcast to cable, CNN attracted more viewers than any of the broadcast networks during the 10 p.m. hour on Wednesday and Thursday. (Fox News Channel defeated the broadcasters during the Republican convention in 2004.) Mr. Obama’s speech, which he gave in that hour, reached 8.1 million viewers on CNN, 6.6 million on ABC, 6.1 million on NBC, 4.7 million on CBS, 4.2 million on Fox News, and 4.1 million on MSNBC. Other viewers watched on additional channels … online the speech had been viewed more than 300,000 times on YouTube by Friday evening.

I cannot tell you how encouraged by this news I am. I am really comforted by the fact that so many folks here in the US are actually paying attention to this presidential election. I spent the lion’s share of yesterday evening watching various news programs about Obama‘s convention speech and McCain’s VP selection and even Obama‘s detractors had to concede that he gave an amazingly stirring speech. I must add, tho, that in all the coverage I watched about the new Republican nominee for Vice President, Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska, I was very alarmed to learn that prior to McCain picking Palin to be his #2 he had only MET HER IN PERSON ONCE … and that was just earlier THIS YEAR! Oh yes, I learned a lot about the new Republican VP nominee which only solidified my support for my candidate. In any event, again, I’m very encouraged that folks are paying attention to this election and it is my sincere hope that people will continue to educate themselves on the candidates who are campaigning to lead this country.

Click HERE to read the full transcript of Barack Obama‘s DNC nomination acceptance speech. After the jump, watch the You Tube video of his speech in full …

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