Obama’s the clear leader in the race, but tonight’s town hall format in Nashville gives McCain a built-in advantage. No crazy fireworks…but it should be fun.

• 9:00 - They’re live from Belmont U., and Brokaw is getting ready to kick things off with intros and ground rules.
• 9:01 - Brokaw is on the screen and laying down the almighty ground rules. All the Q’s were picked by Brokaw himself - no one else has even seen them. A surprise one-minute follow-up has been granted, contrary to the original rules. Yay!
• 9:02 -McCain and Obama arrive on stage, greet each other with a quick smile and shake, then take to their respective corners. No doubt it’s a fight…
• 9:05 - First question from the audience is - no surprise - on the economy. Obama gets going immediately, blaming the economic crisis on the “failed policies of the last eight years…supported by Senator McCain.” Obama then goes on to tout his government programs as being excellent job creators. Is it a good idea to talk kindly about “big government spending” in a debate with McCain?
• 9:07 - McCain is roving around the stage,a contrasting image to Obama’s mostly stationary figure. And McCain is speaking directly to the audience member who asked the Q. Does this alienate home viewers?
• 9:08 - McCain gets through the first question without taking any hard shots at Obama - indeed, he barely mentioned his name. The earliest of early impressions has McCain looking much softer than in the first debate and also getting back to the reform mantra of the most successful period of his campaign. No shots yet…
• 9:10 - Obama dodges Brokaw’s follow-up asking the candidate to name possibilities for their prospective treasury secretaries. McCain said Meg Whitman (while eBay just announced 1500 layoffs…).
• 9:11 - Obama mentions the specific words “tax cuts” before McCain!
• 9:13 - Ha, ha! McCain said “Frannie and Freddie”! Says he was in the “forefront” of trying to legislate our way out of the mortgage mess while Obama “stood by…”
• 9:15 - Obama takes the first shots of the evening, saying he has to “correct Senator McCain’s history” and slamming McCain for not getting his self-touted legislation passed and supporting more deregulation while the crisis was popping up. Also brings up that McCain has a “former Fannie lobbyist…running his campaign.” That would be Rick Davis. McCain gets no response time.
• 9:20 - Obama on blame for the deficit: “…McCain voted for four out of five of those George Bush budgets.” McCain responds that he has been “a consistent reformer” in Washington, working in bipartisan ways where Obama “has never taken on the leaders of his party…” Says that voters should look “at our records as well as our rhetoric.”
• 9:22 - McCain gestures (doesn’t look) at Obama: “This is the most liberal big spending record in the United States Senate.”
• 9:26 - Are we the only folks who feel that the forced quiet and staging of the audience is just creepy looking? They just sit there and ask their robotic Q’s…
• 9:28 - Brokaw again gets steamed about the candidate failing to comply with the arcane time limits - one minute - for post-question “discussion” by the candidate not asked the original question. That will never work, Tom. Get over it.
• 9:30 - McCain touts his spending freeze and warns Americans that they must prepare for spending cuts. Then he goes onto ridicule Obama’s assertion that, in the current economic climate, the major problems facing the country must be taken on one at a time. McCain says that “we’re Americans,” and that everything can be taken on at once, because McCain doesn’t want to tell people without health insurance that they “have to wait.” How do you do that with a government spending freeze?
• 9:33 - Brokaw’s picks for the six internet questions are waaaay too specific and wonkish for the vast majority of voters (and us). Do we really care to hear each of the candidates recitations of how the mortgage crisis happened? They aren’t running for chief economist.
• 9:35 - Hmmm… McCain on Obama’s tax policies: “…like nailing Jell-o to the wall…” That always sounds just too darn yucky.
• 9:37 - McCain comes out and addresses the elephant in the room: “I am not in favor of tax cuts for the wealthy…” But Republicans and the McCain campaign always defended the Bush tax cuts and tout “trickle down economics.” So McCain should be defending those “tax cuts for the wealthy.
• 9:38 - Oooooooh. McCain stares directly at Obama after he compares him to Herbert Hoover and admits that “times are bad.” Shouldn’t the big stare-off be saved for some mega-slap at Obama?
• 9:40 - Obama brings out the big guns and plays on voter emotions, accusing McCain of supporting “tax cuts for CEO’s.” Is that jab this year’s dreaded “tax-and-spend” label? Dick Fuld and his fellow Wall Street titans are the most hated people in America right now (much more than Bill Ayers). The idea of giving them tax cuts to but more spa days can’t be appealing…
• 9:43 - Somebody needs to cool down Brokaw. He’s about to have something pop if the candidates break the unenforceable “town hall” rules. I know a town hall. I’m a friend of town halls…
• 9:44 - McCain intones “my friends” for the, say, tenth time tonight. Then he announces his support for an energy plan “like the French, like the Japanese.” So much for “buy American.” Wants “green jobs” just like Obama.
• 9:46 - This debate has not moved off the economy since it began. McCain has gained no traction and is simply repeating lines that have lost him national and battleground leads. It’s a night that must end very well to erase a bland and unremarkable beginning for McCain on his worst issue.
• 9:48 - Brokaw:”Just a reminder…we do have these lights…” T.B. is not very happy right now.
• 9:50 - McCain hates pastry chefs! He keeps applauding the fact hat he voted against “goodies.”
• 9:51 - Obama scores big on explaining his health care plan and ripping McCain’s controversial tax on health benefits. This could have been a festering thorn for Obama if not handled properly. His riff on health care tonight could take that off the table. It’s all about making voters see Obama and think “safe.”
• 9:53 - McCain is basically laying off Obama, taking only very weak shots at his opponent on what is essentially policy differences. He may be taking too literally the orders from his handlers to take pains not to appear surly or visibly angry with Obama or anyone. else. He’s just ambling along the stage, not really saying much and not making any dents in Obama.
• 9:55 - The Fix picks up on the biggest story of the night: “53 minutes in words not mentioned: “Keating”, “Rezko”, “Ayers”. McCain and Obama are hitting each other hard but avoiding the character hit.”
• 9:56 - McCain says health care is a responsibility.” Obama emphatically says it is a right, then throws in a emotional reference to his mother “dying in the hospital” and arguing with her insurance company over payment of her medical expenses. 
• 9:58 - Oops from Obama: “…Banks go to Delaware…they have loose regulation there…” Hello! Joe Biden on your freaking ticket!
  
• 9:59 - Foreign policy finally comes up in this “town hall.” McCain takes the bait and perhaps takes a shot at Obama when he says that “you will hear…a lot of criticism of America…” No way is that some bland reference to anti-war protesters… 
• 10;02 - Obama tries to defuse any controversy:  “Our troops have performed heroically and honorably…”
• 10:03 - Obama is handling the “town hall” format (whatever is left of it here) very well and with absolutely no apprehension. Handling the audience being mere feet away fairly solidly. He won’t lose on style tonight, which had been predicted.
• 10:06 - McCain breathes easy, gets to slam Obama on the Iraq surge, says Obama would “bring troops home in defeat.” Gets to hammer him on an issue that is now utterly irrelevant to swing voters…
• 10:10 -Hmmm.  Chatter about drug trafficking. We will wake up for that…Can you tell this thing is slowing down? Head count of the audience to see how many are still awake (surely not that teenager who is definitely under 18).
• 10:13 - McCain continues to insinuate that Obama wants to attack Pakistan. Obama: “Nobody is calling for the invasion of Pakistan.” Then boldly brings up McCain’s old “bomb, bomb Iran” gaffe. Sad when this is the first really personal and negative swipe of the night. And it’s from Obama! With 15 minutes left! McCain meekly says he was “joking” with the Iran ditty. And again flatly says Obama will “attack Pakistan.”
• 10:21 - Anybody else watching “Dirty Jobs”? Sort of sums up the position of POTUS - and the campaign. And it’s so much more entertaining than this snooze-fest. We’re reduced to counting mustache sightings and how many times McCain says “my friends.”
• 10:25 - An audience question from “Terry Scherry” in Section A? Dear goodness. Oh…he’s military. Sorry for the joke.  Did McCain just pat him on the shoulder?
• 10:26 - A wild thought: Does tonight’s utterly lifeless debate hurt Obama in the end by actually causing new voters to tune out from the campaign and not even vote? Wild, we know. But possible?
• 10:29 - Obama promises “dire consequences” for Iran if they don’t “change their policies.”
• 10:30 - Final question from “the internet” (like those AT&T commercials…): “What don’t you know and how will you get to know it.” Huh? This debate (not even worthy of the term “town hall”) has been SO LAME.
• 10:34: McCain gets a the final Q and goes into a tame stump speech. It’s over!

Nothing that makes news or shocks voters coming out of this. Both candidates were good enough, but shaky on their usual weak spots. McCain loses simply because he had to meekly talk about thee economy for an hour and never hit Obama - like he and his campaign promised so devilishly this week. Palin’s beloved “gloves” never came off tonight.

Obama gets this one not quite by default. He was reassuring on the economy and good enough on everything else,