David Carr wants you to be worried about what will happen after November 4th. Not because of anything as obvious and tacky as the election, gawd no, but because after the final vote is tallied and the last pregnant chad is disputed, who will buy up all the local advertising?

See, Barack Obama has spent an unheard of $250 mill on ads this campaign, and now that the race is coming to a close, he's basically just giving away the money to the stations in the form of those 30-minute ads coming up. And while these ads are taking up air-time, they effectively push other ads, like car commercials, bank commercials, etc, out of the line-up.

Which you know, is great when none of those client can afford to pay for time anymore. But what happens when the money train grounds to a halt?

The every-other-year cycle of Congressional races has long been a lifeline. “This is the first year in history that advertising could decline in an even year,” Ms. Ryvicker said. “The finance guys, the auto guys, the retail sector are used to getting pushed off the air by the political ads and then returning, but this year, they won’t be coming back.”

Brand Obama began as a social network phenomenon online, with a database of not only willing volunteers but also folks who opened up their checkbooks. And this being a hybrid media age, money gathered on the Web is now being spilled on the traditional box in the den…The bullish year in broadcast political bull has served as something of a Band-Aid on a hemorrhaging ad market. Pulling that bandage off on Nov. 5 is going to hurt.

So lets stretch these salad days out for as long as we can folks! Our solution? Continuing scrutiny over candidate coverage, even after the polls have closed and the election has been decided. Keep following Palin/McCain the losing ticket around the country and speculate what their next move is. Hell, it will keep Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann busy and out of each other's hair, it will continue to satisfy our political junky obsession that otherwise forces us into sudden withdrawal shakes come Nov. 5th, and perhaps we can convince the two parties to keep propping up local networks with attack ads, while the DNC speculates how much capita per month John McCain is spending in that swanky rest home.