If TV ratings are a guide, presidential race is a dead heat

NEW YORK — John McCain attracted roughly the same number of viewers to his acceptance speech Thursday as Barack Obama did last week, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Nielsen said 38.9 million people watched McCain accept the Republican presidential nomination Thursday on either ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News Channel or MSNBC. PBS, whose sampling is less precise, said 3.5 million watched on its network.

Obama's speech in Denver last week was seen by 38.4 million people on 10 commercial networks, and an additional 4 million on PBS.

Add it up, and that's McCain, 42.4 million, to Obama, 42.4 million.