More than 73 million people watched the debate between Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and Sen. Joe Biden, making it the most watched vice-presidential debate in U.S. history and very likely the second-most-watched political debate of any kind. It ranks behind only the Oct. 28, 1980, debate between President Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan, which logged nearly 81 million viewers.
Nielsen Media Research said 70 million people watched the 90-minute debate across ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, Fox News Channel, CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, Telemundo, Telefutura and BBC America. PBS projects another 3.5 million watched on public broadcasting stations.
Before the Biden-Palin match, the most watched vice presidential debate was, ironically, the only other one to feature a female candidate. George H.W. Bush and Geraldine Ferraro drew 56.7 million viewers on Oct. 11, 1984, Nielsen said.
BIDEN SEES HIS SON OFF TO IRAQ WAR
Joe Biden told his son and other Delaware National Guard troops on Friday that his heart was "full of love and pride" as they prepared to leave for an assignment in Iraq.
"We take comfort in the knowledge that you are the best-trained, best-prepared group of citizen soldiers that our country to this day has ever sent into harm's way," Biden told members of the 261st Signal Brigade at a ceremony outside Delaware's state Capitol in Dover.
Biden's son Beau, Delaware's attorney general, is a captain and a lawyer in the 261st. The unit leaves Sunday for Fort Bliss, Texas, where it will train for about six weeks before heading to Iraq.
Biden's Republican rival, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, gave a similar farewell talk in Alaska last month to the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, which includes her oldest son, Track, a 19-year-old private.
PALIN QUESTIONS MICHIGAN MOVE
Sarah Palin questioned John McCain's decision to abandon efforts to win Michigan, a campaign move she only learned about Friday morning when she read it in the newspapers.
In an interview with Fox News Channel, Palin said she had "read that this morning and I fired off a quick e-mail" questioning the move.
"Todd and I, we'd be happy to get to Michigan and walk through those plants of the car manufacturers," Palin said, referring to her husband.
The campaign decided that the $1 million a week it was spending in Michigan wasn't worth it with internal polls showing Barack Obama nearing a double-digit lead.
In her interview with Fox News, Palin also vowed to take more questions from voters and reporters. "I look forward to speaking to the media more and more every day and providing whatever access the media would want," she said, declaring her life "an open book."
NRA CRANKS UP ANTI-OBAMA ADS
The National Rifle Association (NRA) is about to turn up the volume in its campaign against Barack Obama, airing more ads taking him to task over his record on guns. Starting as early as Sunday, the NRA will be airing a new batch of spots in more battleground states, such as Ohio, Virginia and Florida.
The NRA has set up a website attacking Obama and so far has disclosed spending $2.2 million on its independent expenditure campaign against the Democratic nominee, Federal Election Commission records show.
NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam said the organization will end up spending well into "eight figures" -- some have estimated as much as $40 million -- by Nov. 4.
Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt responded, "Obama has always believed that the Second Amendment protects the individual right to own a firearm."
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