With just a little over eight months remaining before we crown our nation’s new leader, the media is having a heyday over one letter. The “O Factor” is simply summed up with two very familiar and very powerful brands – The Obama and The Oprah.

We all witnessed some part of the phenomenon that is Oprah’s ability to grab a crowd about a month ago when she publicly announced she thought Mr. Obama “should be our next President of the United States.”

The media honestly attempted to downplay this at the obvious risk of American people voting for Obama just because Oprah likes him. Well, the probability of that working is about as likely as Ron Paul winning the election.

Everyone talked about it and everyone continues to talk about it. Following the suit of other matches made in heaven like Brangelina and TomCat, the newfound relationship even has its own name – the “Oh Oh” campaign.

O, as in Oprah

As fun and humorous as that is, what is the real effect of Oprah’s endorsement for the Illinois Senator? Well, let’s take a look at whom and how many listen to Oprah’s opinion, shall we? NBC recently did a study with Nielsen to drill down the numbers behind the Winfrey powerhouse.

Here’s a snapshot of what they found: The Oprah Winfrey Show audience is predominantly female, white, and over the age of 55 (not shocking). Nationally 7.4 million people watch Oprah daily, with her highest ratings among older Americans. 3.7 million people age 55 and older watch Oprah, most of which are women.

Honestly, after I reviewed those numbers I didn’t initially think that sounded like all that much, or at least it wasn’t the massive number I thought it would be. Then I began to consider the indefinable and uncalculated. And that is – Oprah’s reach. Or, more commonly known as the “Oprah Effect.”

The “Oprah Effect” is an actual study done by Brigham Young University, led by economist and professor, Richard Butler, with the hopes to define the impact or effect of Oprah and essentially, her opinion. The study begins by looking at her influence over the book world. With the insanely successful Oprah Book Club, her clout in this industry is fascinating. It is a fact that when she promotes a book on USA Today’s Top 150 best seller list, its there to stay.

"It's not just an overall average," Butler said. "We're comparing the short-term, median-term and long-term books with Oprah's short-term, median-term and long-term books, and those are really distinct. Her average and below-average picks stayed on the list much longer than the average and below-average best-seller books."

Oprah pretty much owns the airwaves and we haven’t even discussed the four million readers of “O Magazine” or her new TV network – appropriately entitled “OWN.” So, how does the “Oprah Effect” sway the vote come Election Day? We’ll soon find out.

O, as in Obama

There might not be a study on the “Obama Effect” at this point, but I wouldn’t be shocked if it’s in the works as I type. I’ll hand it to him – he’s come a long way. Whether he is our nation’s Democratic candidate or not, he has proven to be a real possibility over the past few months.

Without getting into it, (and by “it” I mean politics) I pose this two-part question. Would he have made it this far without the public signature of approval from the Queen of Media herself and can he continue to leverage the relationship heading toward November?

Obama’s likely answer to that: “Yes, I Can.”

Sources used in this article include: http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/12/07/502240.aspx http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,595113603,00.html