Things to watch for:
Will Palin be able to answer the questions posed to her, or will she continue to dodge and evade the questions as she has in multiple interview segments with Katie Couric? Will she poke fun at Biden’s gaffes and mistakes on the campaign trail?

Will Biden take a “soft” approach when addressing Palin in order to prevent his critics from declaring he was sexist or “man handled” Palin? Will he focus on McCain and basically ignore Palin? Will he poke fun at Palin’s inability to name a newspaper that she reads or a Supreme Court ruling she disagrees with other than Roe v. Wade?

Will it matter how well Palin performs tonight? If Palin falters and fails to deliver, will the McCain camp blame her “poor showing” on the controversy surrounding moderator Gwen Ifill’s supposed impartiality based on her upcoming book that includes Obama as one of the political black leaders in America? The book, “The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama” is slated to be published on the day the new president is inaugerated.

And finally, will the economy overshadow other issues or will it be glossed over? Will they debate the issue of the bailout program?

Debate starts at 9:00 p.m. EDT

October 2, 2008, Thursday
Vice presidential debate: All Topics

Moderated by Gwen Ifill
@ Washington University in St. Louis, Mo.

-Ninety-second answers, followed by two-minute discussion for each question. Two-minute closing statements.

2008 Election Debate Resource

Debate Schedule

All Debates start at 9:00 p.m. EDT

October 2, 2008, Thursday
Vice presidential debate: all topics
Moderated by Gwen Ifill
@ Washington University in St. Louis, Mo.

-Ninety-second answers, followed by two-minute discussion for each question. Two-minute closing statements.

October 7, 2008, Tuesday
Second presidential debate: all topics in town meeting format
Moderated by Tom Brokaw
@ Belmont University, Nashville, TN

-Two-minute answers, followed by one-minute discussion for each question.

October 15, 2008, Wednesday
Third presidential debate: the economy and domestic policy
Moderated by Bob Schieffer
@ Hofstra University, Hempstead, N.Y.

-Two-minute answers, followed by five-minute discussion for each question. Two-minute closing statements.

B-I-N-G-O

The folks over at MotherJones.com have created a great game of Bingo to help get you through the lulls in the debates. Use it as a drinking game, or if you have some bean bags nearby you can throw them at the television when you “score.”

How do you watch the debates? Do you have friends over and make a night of it? Do you rent movies and ignore the entire process? Let’s hear it!