Tonight's Presidential Debate comes from Belmont University, a place I have actually seen, in Nashville. This is the "Quasi Town Hall" format, favored by Senator McCain, who makes a point to mention that he finally got Senator Obama in this format. I watched CNN this time, so I could see the Men/Women Pulsemeter chart as the candidates spoke. It'll keep me awake. The moderator this evening...Tom Brokaw of NBC. Here are my notes:

McCain

He may have looked at Obama upon entering the arena. I repeat, may.
Looks like he got stuck with the high barstool. I know, I know, when he was in a box for 5-1/2 years, he didn't have a barstool.
"Good to be with you at a town hall meeting. Hi, I'm Senator Snarky."
"Energy independence."
"My friends." God bless ya, if that was in your drinking game.
"Not you, Tom." WTF? Was Brokaw the banker at a Monopoly game once? He should have said, "Phil Gramm" to make Pulsemeter go crazy.
eBay mentioned and Pulsemeter almost crapped out to the negative.
"Oliver, I prefer rescue to bailout. Now go to your room."
"Never heard of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac." Don't assume, we'll just skip over my MLK Day vote.
"Cronies." I love that word.
He has more voices than Bernie Kosar.
"The American worker is the best in the world."
Lieberman! I thought Pulsemeter died right there.
"I have reached across the aisle..."
$3 million overhead projector. Small business loan, anyone? That was for the Adler Planetarium, you know. Not the South Park Planet Arium.
"I think you can work on all 3 at once..." I won't choose yet.
"My hero, Ronald Reagan." He's dead.
"Internets. Huh? What?"
"Not rifleshots here." Cheney?
"Nailing Jello to the wall!" Pulling mussels from a shell!
"Herbert Hoover." Young folks scratch their head.
"I got some news for you, Senator Obama. The news is BAD!"
"Double tax exception for each child." Again, what about me?
"Tip O'Neill." More head scratching from the young.
"Nuclear power is safe." The French do it. I thought we hated the French.
"THAT ONE!" Oh, no he dint. Too much racialism.
"Hair transplant." Too much Bidenism.
"Can we hear the size of the fine?" Crickets.
"Teddy Roosevelt, my hero." Nursing home residents perk up.
"It was a joke. Come on. I joke about war."
"Rotten stinking corpse." Not McCain.
"Second Holocaust." Aw, jeez, not this shit again.
"I have a secret plan, but I won't tell anyone until I'm President."
"Russia? Evil? Uh, maybe. I don't want Putin rearing his head."

The thing that bugged me about McCain was that flippy thing he kept doing with the microphone. He kept dropping it into his right hand. And his jokes were really lame. He should quit now. This was allegedly his best format, but Obama just looked better. The age difference was very prominent tonight. And for Palin to say forget looking to the past, you Democrats, her boss invoked Reagan, KGB, Hoover and Teddy Roosevelt to Obama's safe JFK. He has the potential to get dusted.

Obama

Obama wins the toss. He does not defer (NFL Joke minted 2008).
Allan from the no-hair section with a question.
I think Obama ignored the old timers on that one.
"AIG? We own it now. Fire their asses."
He said, "Junket..." heh heh hehe heh heh heh
Warren Buffett as Treasury Secretary? Doesn't he have a job?
"Senator McCain is right."
Brokaw tries to enforce rules. Ha! The role of the moderator went out the window in the VP debate.
"Not surprisingly." Attack him!
"No one is innocent..." about the current economic crisis.
"JFK."
"You've got to prioritize, you can't say 'all at once' and think that's okay."
He said, "9-1-1." first!
Brokaw just said we're all drunk!
Brokaw invokes rules. This is not good.
"The Straight Talk Express lost a wheel on that one!" That made me spit.
"He's been there for 26 of them." But he's a Maverick.
"I'm just trying to keep up with John" and his mumbo-jumbo lies.
"Rwanda."
"Bomb bomb bomb bomb bomb Iran." Good one.
"Green behind the ears." An alternative energy, I presume.
"We will kill bin Laden. We will crush al Qaeda." And that's coming from a Democrat, my friends.

The great thing about Obama was that he tore a page out of Palin's playbook, where he ignored the rules. To answer the questions, mind you, but since all future moderators are neutered, what the hell, go for it. And he stayed and shook an awful lot of hands afterward. It looked like McCain could not wait to get to Strongsville on Wednesday and departed early.

Folks, I think this race is almost over.

Meal of Links

The voice of "Frontline", Will Lyman, talks about his gig. You can also hear him on the BMW ads. He possesses one of those unique voices. Look (or hear) for him in "Mystic River".

Christmas is coming. So to speak.

Liz Phair live from LA. She revisits "Guyville".

Berkeley Breathed ends "Opus" in a month. I am pretty sure "Bloom County" was the last daily strip I read with any regularity.

Exercise Yard

If you've been watching the baseball playoffs on TBS, you know what is coming. Yep, it's the return of Frank TV.

Visitor

17 Across: 1974 kidnap victim (11 letters) Answer: Patty Hearst