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My take: Obama made a Herculean effort to remain decorous, in the face of constant interruptions and guffaws from McCain. In so doing, he did not define differences with McCain as clearly as I had hoped he would. It'll be up to the pundits — and the people — to decide which side of this dynamic came through more strongly.

And we're done! Here comes the spin. At this point, the cable news talking heads are gearing up for the postgame analysis like this is a second round NFL playoff. Each campaign's flaks are telling their versions of the story to reporters in what's known as the "spin room." The real battle will be decided in the next few hours, and in the headlines it generates in the Sunday and Monday papers and television broadcasts.

It's hard, amid all the bluster, for voters to listen and make their own decisions, but here's hoping that most Americans can see past the media static.

I don't put much stock in the brand of 'bipartisanship' McCain espouses. In certain times — like this economic crisis — representatives need to work together. But that doesn't mean you ignore the fact that here are substantive differences on the huge issues of our time.

I am really interested to see a breakdown of how much time each of them spoke for. This open format is an aid to impoliteness, not a civil debate.

The sad thing is the only thing that matters about this debate is what the cable pundits say afterward. The media cycle that emerges from this debate, and the way it will be defined in the media, is going to have the most lasting impression on the electorate. And to be honest, I can't tell who's winning. I could pick a side based on partisan bias, but that's it. It's a wonder how the cable pundits get away with selling our elections like the next episode of that bull-riding reality show that was on NBC just before the debate.

McCain is starting to get angry...can Obama make him fly off the handle?

Also: Russia! Finally!

Meanwhile, in another part of town...

The League of Democracies did battle with the Axis of Evil...

But to come back to the superhero theme, Batman is a dark, brooding vigilante multi-millionaire. Spiderman is a fresh-faced, idealistic kid with something to prove. Some symbolism there? I like it.

Wha-bam! Obama scores with the fact that Kissinger, too, (a McCain adviser) supports meeting with Iran without "preconditions."

A "League of Democracies," huh? Incidentally, McCain has told reporters that his favorite superhero is Batman. Obama's? Spiderman.

Seems Superman, a personal favorite, has fallen through the cracks.

Obviously Iraq and Afghanistan need to be discussed, but one can't help but hope that these men will move on and discuss the Russian problem, the ignoring of which is one of the greatest strategy blunders that's happened due to the military being tied up in Iraq.

Just today, Russia loaned Venezuela $1 billion for weapons. And Russian warships are on their way to Venezuela — in our hemisphere! — to conduct military exercises. Russia's become so much more aggressive towards the United States -- not just towards Georgia -- and it's almost as if it's going unnoticed.

I can't decide whether McCain looks awful for not letting Obama talk, or whether Obama's doing himself a disservice by letting McCain talk over him again, and again, and again, and again.

Obama has not interrupted once. McCain has interrupted Obama nearly every time Obama has spoken.

Obama: Bush had an "orgy of spending."

McCain needs to stop interrupting Obama, he needs to not talk forever every time he speaks, and he needs to drop that "Miss Congeniality" line, it's been like three times already.

What does that even mean when these guys say they're going to 'create seven bajillion jobs,' as if McCain is personally going out and hiring people.

Also, Lehrer refers to the president as someone who will "rule the country" — shouldn't the president 'govern' rather than rule?

I thought we fought a war over this around 1776.

McCain talks about government transparency like Bush I. Obama's talking about "Google for government." The age gap -- by which I mean the technology gap and the relevance gap -- could not be clearer.

McCain keeps talking about random government waste under Bush as if it was Obama's fault.

This has been said before, but seeing these two candidates side by side for the first time really drives it home: this is a historic election, and for the first time, one of the candidates for the highest office in the land is not white.

Also, McCain is making this about taxes. This could be good for Obama. JM said "you might be interested in BO's definition of rich," but didn't McCain tell Rick Warren that someone was rich if they had more than $5 million in income a year? So if you make $4 million, you're what, exactly?

Oho! McCain breaks out the first "my friends" of the night. No word on "hope" just yet.

Mac: "I didn't win Miss Congeniality in the U.S. Senate."

No, but Sarah Palin did in the Miss Alaska competition.

Obama's being really succinct, and he's staying on the attack, and here goes McCain with the pushback, and it's on! This might get nasty...

That was really weird. McCain: "I've got a pen — this one's pretty old — but I've got a pen and I'm going to veto every bill ..."

He needs to focus!

McCain is giving a history lesson about Eisenhower, and his honor — a play for older voters?

Check out Obama's burgundy tie: it's not a red tie, or a blue tie, but a United Tie of America.

This open format is strange. Lehrer is encouraging the candidates to talk to each other but there doesn't seem to be a good framework to facilitate that interaction. We'll see if it takes place.

Did McCain just call Jim Lehrer "Tim," as in the late Tim Russert?

Obama: "[the credit crisis] is a final verdict on eight years of failed economic policies by George Bush and supported by Sen. McCain."

Lehrer's very staid. Brooks brothers tie. Talking about Eisenhower. Oy. Wait, good quote though: "the foundation of military strength is economic strength."

Jim Lehrer, the moderator predictably announces he'll ask about the economy

Five minutes left! Here we go ...

Bill O'Reilly is "trying to get a sense" of whether Bill Clinton is ultimately to blame for the credit crisis. What a dweeb. Also: "This is a Barney Frank problem, it's a George Bush problem." Unbelievable, Bill-O.

On a much more somber note, the networks are now reporting that Sen. Kennedy was taken to the hospital on Cape Cod with a "minor seizure," but his office is saying it's not serious.

Absurdity is the new black.

Back on NBC, "Sandy" is wearing a ten gallon cowboy hat — and talking a blue streak into the camera — as she's wheeled into the emergency room with a maybe-broken ankle.

It is hard to say which cable network has the best analyst panel tonight — or at least the most entertaining. Karl Rove's on Fox, Pat Buchanan's on MSNBC, and David Gergen's on CNN. Second thought: what's with all these former Nixon staffers?

As odious as cable news is — and it is — you have to figure it really does a public service. Evidence? On NBC right now, there's a reality show featuring women's bullriding. "Michaela puts together a textbook performance by getting in there and engaging the bull." Then again, come to think of it, is this color commentary any different than the political coverage on the cable networks? Jury's out.

Shameless plug: For further coverage, check out the Youth Vote ’08 blog (where I have a weekly column), run by The Sun’s content partner UWire and available at CBS News and The Washington Post.

The Youth Vote team has had student correspondents on the ground in Mississippi for the past few days and they’ve been producing some really interesting work.

Hi, I’m David Wittenberg, The Sun’s associate editor (I run the opinion section). Welcome to The Sun's live presidential debate coverage! I’ll be liveblogging tonight’s debate, covering the candidates as well as the crowd and the press (my coeditor Katie was unfortunately unable to join us tonight). Strap in tight, because all reports indicate tonight’s event will be quite a show.

We have to start out by mentioning the best part of these things: the tradition (which, as far as our folklorists can tell us grew out of the George W. Bush State of the Union Drinking Game) of the Presidential Debate Drinking Game.

Check out this one, from UWire’s Youth Vote ’08 Blog via the Washington Post.

The New York Times' Jeff Zeleny looks about 25 years old

There's a real racial divide in this crowd outside Hardball — lots of black kids for Obama, and most of the white kids and older white people saying they're for McCain. As much as Ole Miss may have moved on since the days of James Meredith, this is still the South, and, in electoral politics at least, the racial divide is stark.

The signs in the student crowd at Ole Miss: some placards for Bono's "One" campaign, some "Steelworkers for Obama," but really quite a lot of signs for Ronnie Musgrove, the former democratic governor of Mississippi who's now running for U.S. Senate. He's nearly as socially conservative as they come, however, so file his candidacy under 'interesting,' but not quite revolutionary.

Lou Dobbs is waxing populist about "the big bailout." Matthews is in commercial. Fox has on Bill Richardson who, with his new beard, looks like he's auditioning for the role of a costume drama villain, say Cardinal Richelieu or the Sheriff of Nottingham.

Dobbs is, however, making a fair point that until this crisis Dodd was seen to be, if not in the pocket of the big banks, at least supportive.

Parade of the blowhards — While NBC took flak for Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann's enthusiastic coverage of the DNC, on MSNBC and CNN at least the pregame shows right now are being run by Matthews and, at CNN by anti-illegal immigration aficionado Lou Dobbs. At Fox, the anchor is Brit Hume who, depending who you ask of course, is not quite a straight newsman himself. Is this the end of traditional, disinterested objectivity? At least on cable news, it looks like it.

It's worth adding that, although this debate is supposed to be about foreign policy, the economy is clearly taking a front seat. Rep. Frank — along with Sen. Chris Dodd, who heads the Senate Banking Committee — is at the center of this crisis and it will be interesting to see how the moderators and the candidates allot emphasis to the economy and foreign affairs.

MSNBC is reporting that Sen. Edward M. Kennedy has been taken to the hospital.

Barney Frank: Teddy is "One of the heroes of American history. No one has accomplished more on the causes of social fairness ... than this man."

Rep. Adam Putnam, the Republican conference chair who also sits in the minority on Frank's House Financial Services Committee, also expresses his wishes for Kennedy's health.

Kennedy's hospitalization casts a somber tone over this evening. "The Lion of the Senate" is a cliché, but in this case it's true. As Caroline Kennedy said at the DNC, Ted Kennedy isn't just a senator from Massachusetts — he's the senator of working people across this country, of Americans trying to get a decent wage, decent healthcare, and honest dealing in Washington.

The debate tonight is at Ole Miss University in Oxford, Mississippi. Obama’s appearance is indicative of how much this country’s changed since Bob Dylan wrote this song, the protest classic “Oxford Town,” about black student James Meredith’s troubles gaining admittance to the University in 1962.

The student daily, the Daily Mississippian, has a rather strange interview with Meredith today which is indicative of Meredith’s historically strained relationship with the organized Civil Rights movement. Meredith also made the DM reporter agree to an odd set of conditions before conducting the interview.