Big Viewership for Controversial Sarah Palin

Just short of Obama's record-setter:

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's highly anticipated speech at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday night nearly matched the record-setting numbers of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.

Palin pulled in 37.2 million viewers across broadcast and cable networks, according to Nielsen Media Research.

That's 55% higher than Day 3 of the DNC, when her Democratic counterpart, Joe Biden, and President Clinton took the stage (24 million).

It's also up a sharp 99% from the Republican convention's third day in 2004 (18.7 million). In fact, it came close to upsetting Obama's historic address on Thursday -- the most-watched convention speech in history (38.4 million viewers).

High viewership is a two-edged sword. Rumor has it that Obama ison pace for a $10 million donation haul in the 24 hours between Palin's and McCain's speech. No word on McCain donations, but they are likely brisk as well.

Update [2008-9-4 20:3:43 by DemFromCT]:: WSJ says RNC took in 1 million.