Nielsen is reporting some interesting ratings for last night’s vice presidential debate. The overall rating for the debate was 45.0 — much higher than Obama and McCain’s debate last week. That ranking means that 45 percent of households with Nielsen meters watched the debate. Only 31.6 percent of households watched the presidential debate. While not all numbers are in yet, Nielsen is reporting that Joe Biden and Sarah Palin’s debate may wind up being one of the most-watched debates ever.
While reactions to the debate are mixed, both of the vice-presidential candidates seemed to do well. Frankly, I expected worse from …read more

John McCain, who announced on Wednesday that he was suspending his campaign events, will be present at tonight’s debate. His campaign made the announcement this afternoon.
McCain had said that he would take part in the debate if Congress took action to address the crisis facing Wall Street. It seems unlikely that such action will occur before the debate, but senior campaign advisers told McCain that it was politically crucial that he attend the debate.
Both McCain and Barack Obama have announced that they will return to Washington, D.C. after the debate.
The debate will take place in Oxford, Mississippi, at 8 …read more

This guest post comes to us courtesy of Brian Layman, who is one of 8 bloggers covering tonight’s debate live! NBC and WKYC-Cleveland are hosting Senators Clinton and Obama at Cleveland State University.