First US Presidential Debate tonight, maybe

OK it's not university debating, and some people may say its not debating at all, but possibly the most watched "debates" around the world are the debates that occur every 4 years between the candidates for the US presidency. It is likely that there will be at least highlights if not live coverage somewhere on your TV over the weekend. While there have been some memorable moments in past presidential debates there is some disagreement on the importance of the debates

The first debate is supposed to occur tonight at the University of Mississippi but this is in doubt as both the candidates are in Washington pretending to be playing an important part in rescuing the world economy but in reality are chasing the TV camera crews that moved from filming them endlessly shaking hands with ordinary voters to go report some real news.

If the debate happens it is supposed focus on foreign policy and national security but given the current economic crisis don't expect the candidates to stick to that (assuming they turn up). The candidates will stand at podiums and the debate will be made up of nine, nine-minute segments where each candidate will speak for two minutes to speak and then they will "debate" for five minutes.

The moderator is Jim Lehrer.

The second and third debates take place on the 7th October and the 15th October.

Some useful sites for more background on US presidential debate http://presidentialdebateblog.blogspot.com/
http://www.mydebates.org/
http://www.debatescoop.org/
http://www.debates.org/