Why Barack Obama is secretly glad the White Sox aren't playing the Cubs in this year's World Series.

Barack Obama is widely known around Chicago for being a White Sox fan. He said he'd be rooting for the Sox over the Cubs if the two teams were to meet this year in the World Series.

But let's get real. Barack Obama is secretly thrilled that the White Sox aren't playing the Cubs in the World Series.

Why?

Because he was just gifted with a once in a lifetime chance to reach voters in battleground states during primetime television. Florida's Tampa Bay Rays and Pennsylvania's Philadelphia Phillies - two teams that make the rest of the country tune out completely, but the only two teams in this year's MLB playoffs that hail from states at the heart of this year's presidential race. UPDATE: my roommate Dan, an ardent Phillies fan, takes issue with me saying that the rest of the country will tune out the World Series this year. "People are sick of the Sox and Yankees," Dan writes, "I bet many are saying 'who are these new, young, exciting players?'" Well, I can't say that I agree with him...but I'll give props to his argument and his team.

For the presidential campaigns - and due to his enormous cash advantage, Obama moreso than McCain - this is an ideal venue to place ads going into the home stretch of the presidential race. I expect Obama will buy every available spot he can get for each and every game of the series - and that's on top of the fact that he'll have 30 minutes of uninterrupted airtime on Fox directly before a possible game six.

So my guess? Obama and his campaign are thrilled with how the playoffs panned out this year - and will be rooting for whichever team lengthens the series to the maximum seven games.