After 27 years of declining them MTV to accept political ads

"MTV Networks will accept political advertising that is national in scope, sponsored by a legally qualified candidate, a candidate's official campaign committee, a nationally recognized political party, or the official congressional campaign committee(s) of a nationally recognized party."

After 27 years of saying no what could have driven this change?

Well obviously the magical minster of change himself Barack Obama:

MTV's announcement of the switch follows a report in the New York Times on June 22 that Democratic Sen. Barack Obama's campaign wanted to do an MTV buy. It's also probably not a coincidence that Mr. Obama, who is opting out of public funding, will likely have plenty of money to spend on youth-directed ads. A political expert said the most immediate beneficiary of the switch is the Obama campaign.

"I think MTV's decision to accept advertising is an important indication that the youth vote this year will have a real impact on the outcome of the election," said Tad Devine, a Democratic campaign strategist who handled Sen. John Kerry's campaign four years ago. "Now campaigns have the opportunity to reach young voters in a venue where they congregate, and I'm sure Obama's campaign will look seriously at advertising there, given his advantage with young people."

So if I was the Republican Party I would be taking that huge pile of cash and blanketing MTV make Obama spend like Michael Jackson at a plastic surgeon. I would aslo keep the ads low key. Use the schoolhouse rock format and pound home conservative principles, but hey that's just me and as I am constantly reminded over at Ace of Spades I am not very bright or a real conservative.