The Obama Show

More recently, Putnam produced Michelle Obama's bio video at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. The video was narrated by Michelle's mother, Marian Robinson, and sought to portray Michelle's family and community work in often intimate ways—ending with an emotional emphasis on Michelle's late father. "I hope America gets to know the girl we raised and the woman she became, because she's the most remarkable person I know," her mother says at the end of the video. "I wish my husband could see this day. But every day I get to see a piece of him in her, and for that I am so proud and so blessed."

Born in Anchorage, Alaska, Putnam has a rare item on his resume for a political consultant: he graduated from Brown with a degree in molecular biology. But he decided to focus on a much less precise science out of college, heading to work for Joe Biden's failed 1988 presidential campaign. He moved into political-media production not long after and kept his hand in presidential politics, serving as chief speechwriter to Dick Gephardt's White House campaign in 2004.

"He's a very, very good writer and producer," says Peter Fenn, the Democratic strategist who worked with him through the late 1980s and early 1990s. "He's very creative and a real perfectionist when it comes to his ads. He takes real pride in them. There are a lot of folks who do cookie-cutter things and churn them out. Not Mark." (Senior Obama campaign staff declined to comment on the prime-time ad or Putnam's work, and they did not make Putnam available to discuss it.)

Friends credit Putnam for his creativity. "He's very strong on the concept side, [as he demonstrated in] the Richardson ads," said one longtime friend, who requested anonymity speaking on the subject. "And secondly, he understands this is an emotional medium. He is excellent at producing affective material."

The friend cautions that next week's Obama spot won't be an ideal showcase for Putnam's creative talents. There will be a lot of hands in the project—including campaign manager David Plouffe, chief strategist David Axelrod and senior advisers Robert Gibbs and Anita Dunn. The team has been considering a classic town-hall format and weighing a mix of video and new original material, as well.

And how is the McCain planning to counterprogram? The Republican's decision to take public financing leaves him hard-pressed to muster the money to match Obama's act; campaign aides says they have no plans to do a similar broadcast of their own at the moment. So McCain is trying to inoculate against the impact of the infomercial, casting it as one more sign of an overconfident Democratic contender rushing to measure the White House drapes. "He'll be addressing the nation soon," McCain told a crowd in New Hampshire on Wednesday. "He's got another of those big stadium spectacles in the works. But acting like the election is over won't let him take away your chance to have the final say in this election."

© 2008