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Back in August the news was being blared from the rooftops in media watching circles: the first GOP debate had landed Fox News the highest ratings they’ve ever seen, with more than 24 million people tuning in. (For a relatable comparison, last week’s Monday Night Football managed 14.4M.) CNN hosted the second Republican debate and they cashed in on some serious numbers as well, breaking their own personal best with 23 million viewers. One might suspect that the business of televising political debates is the new Big Thing in the television game.So CNN must be pretty excited about tomorrow’s...

CNN announced its debate criteria on Monday, making clear that Vice President Joe Biden will have the chance to make it onto the first debate stage on Oct. 13, should he declare. In order to qualify for the debate stage, candidates must have achieved an average of 1 percent in three polls, recognized by CNN, released between Aug. 1 and Oct. 10. Candidates must also declare by Oct. 14, CNN said, meaning that Biden could announce his candidacy the day of the debate and still qualify.

The "bitter" answer, captured on audiotape, came in response to a question about whether Obama could win white rural voters because he is black. He basically said these voters have other grievances more salient than race, which is why they don't vote their economic interests and are vulnerable to wedge issues having to do with God, gays and guns. Clinton surely knows what Obama was trying to say, but seeing her path to the nomination narrowing, she manipulated his words for political gain. Fair enough. She hurts him, but she hurts herself more. Pollster Doug Schoen, who has advised her...

There's no debate: Pens trump politics tribune-review by salena zito Politics stops at the water's edge -- even if that water's frozen, apparently. About 57,000 more households in the Pittsburgh region tuned in to watch the Penguins beat up on the Ottawa Senators than tuned in to see two senators (Obama and Clinton) beat up on each other in the Democratic presidential debate, according to Nielsen Media Research. The hockey game played in 175,000 – or 23 percent – of all households in the Pittsburgh metro market, while the blame game played in 118,000 households – or 14 percent of...

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED. WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to the Palace Theatre here in Myrtle Beach. We're here in South Carolina five days before the first Democratic primary in the South. And it's no coincidence that we're holding this debate on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, along with our partners, the Congressional Black Caucus Institute. This state will provide the first significant test of support within the African-American community in a historic Democratic contest that has confronted issues of race and transcended them. As...

There's a great deal of controversy brewing concerning implications that CNN not only stocked the audience at Thursday's Democrat Presidential debate, but also controlled the questions attendees asked. So much for Wolf Blitzer not caving into pressure from the Clinton campaign. One of the most delicious incidents from the debate was reported Friday by Marc Ambinder at the Atlantic magazine blog (emphasis added (h/t Allah at Hot Air):

A couple of intriguing--maybe even disturbing--postscripts to last night's Democratic debate. It wasn't so much a debate as a chaotic uncoordinated interview of a gang of candidates in front of a Las Vegas crowd accustomed to prize fights and cheering for their favorite (Hillary Clinton) and booing the bad guy (John Edwards, when he criticized their favorite). ---snip--- Now, Luisa has been subjected to criticism from friends and strangers about asking a dumb question. On her MySpace, she wrote: "Every question from the audience was pre-planned and censored. That's... what the media does. See, the media chose what they wanted,...

GOFFSTOWN – Instead of a bullhorn, Steve Lindsey held a slide trombone, blaring away as cars passed through the main entrance to St. Anselm College yesterday afternoon. At his feet was a handwritten sign: "Honk to Impeach." Although the election to replace President Bush is barely more than a year away, Lindsey is still eager to see Bush impeached. "One, he doesn't learn from experience and, two, we were led into war on false pretexts," the Keene native said. As for the eight Democratic candidates coming to campus that evening to debate the war and other issues, Lindsey, a cab...

The Democratic candidates for governor ratcheted up their rhetoric Wednesday in their first debate, as state Treasurer Phil Angelides belittled state Controller Steve Westly as a "twin" of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Westly shot back that Angelides "has never seen a tax he doesn't like." Angelides supports raising taxes on corporations and the wealthy to fully fund education. Westly has said he would do a better job of collecting taxes at the current level and try to get more money from the state lottery. Angelides also said Westly has supported raising taxes in a variety of ways. Westly supports Proposition...

<p>It's bad enough that nine Democratic candidates came to one of the blackest cities in America and didn't focus on the issues vital to black America.</p> <p>But the debate, which was supposed to focus on urban issues, gave one candidate, U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, the chance to wrongly disparage its host city by announcing a monthly homicide rate that was off by 265 people.</p>