VP Debate Appears to Be Most-Watched of 2008 Election

The third and final debate between presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama last night appears to have attracted fewer viewers than their second face-off, although more than their first.

Which, yes, means the first, and only, debate between vice presidential candidates Sen. Joe Biden and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin probably will be the most watched debate of this election year, having clinched, when the dust settled, a whopping 70 million viewers across multiple broadcast and cable numbers.

About 38 percent of households watched the third presidential debate, according to early stats released today from Nielsen Media, based on 56 of the country's top local TV markets. For comparison's sake, 35 percent tuned in to the first debate and 42 percent to the second, based on the same early tabulations the mornings after those face-offs. Biden and Palin garnered the attention of 45 percent of households, according to similar data.

Final figures for last night's debate, moderated by CBS's Bob Schieffer at Hofstra University in New York, will be available later today.

Fox broadcast network, which aired the first and second presidential debates, did not participate in debate coverage last night; it aired Game 5 of the NLCS baseball championships between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Philadelphia Phillies -- those being the country's No. 2 and No. 4 television markets.

PBS, on the other hand, believes it clocked its biggest audience for a presidential debate this year last night -- about 3.2 million viewers, it estimates. That's compared with 2.6 million for the first presidential debate Sept. 26 and 2.8 million for the Oct. 7 event. But, as with all the other outlets, it appears PBS drew its biggest crowd for the Biden-Palen face-off, which PBS estimates attracted 3.5 million to public TV stations.

Nielsen has not included PBS numbers in any of its debate tallies. PBS makes its estimates based on 50 Nielsen metered markets with PBS stations airing the debate live.