Opinion: Some more of us watched this McCain-Obama debate, but it still can’t top Sarah and Joe

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The second debate match-up between Sen. John ‘My Friends’ McCain and Sen. Barack ‘My studied calmness is making even me sleepy’ Obama proved a strong draw with television viewers Tuesday night.

There’s an exclusive Times video analysis below.

More than 63 million of us watched these two senators talk at each other just like, well, senators. Yada Yada this bill. Yada yada that bill. You voted yada on this yada amendment. That’s because of yada earmark. Well, that’s where you’re wrong, senator.

We already have two C-SPANS.

Maybe these kinds of exchanges are why 2008 will be only the third time in American history when a sitting senator (yes, we know the debaters were standing) gets elected president. Americans prefer decisive chief executives -- governors, generals, vice presidents. Five of the last five presidents weren’t legislators.

He’s not running anymore -- for president anyway -- but we sure could have used Texas Rep. Ron ‘I’m unopposed for the House this time’ Paul (see photo) to liven things up with some verbal bomb-tossing at the Federal Reserve or somewhere.

Tuesday night’s audience watching the Nashville chat, moderated by helpless Tom ‘I’m just the hired help’ Brokaw, was a sizeable increase above the 52.4 million who watched their first forum on Sept. 26. Will we ever learn? There’s still one more presidential debate not to be missed if you can.

That audience makes this week’s rhetorical confrontation the tenth-most watched presidential debate since Nielsen Media Research starting tracking the audience in 1960. Jot that in your diary.

Not surprisingly, the top of the two presidential tickets simply could not match the interest level in their No. 2 running mates, Alaska Gov. Sarah ‘Can I call you Joe?’ Palin and Sen. Joe ‘Main Street’ Biden, who garnered 69.9 million viewers for their sole debate on Oct. 2.

A dozen television networks have been airing the presidential debates live, and so far, ABC seems to be the preferred choice of most viewers. For the third debate in a row, the network had a bigger audience than its broadcast and cable counterparts, averaging 13.2 million viewers. ABC’s post-debate analysis -- anchored by Charles ‘I really don’t like Palin at all’ Gibson, Diane ‘What am I doing up at this late hour?’ Sawyer and George ‘Bet you can’t think of a funny nickname that doesn’t have to do with my hair’ Stephanopoulos -- also was the biggest draw, with an average of 9.92 million viewers.

NBC placed second with its coverage of the 900-minute forum (no, just kidding, only seemed that long; it was really ‘only’ 90) garnering 10.86 million viewers, while CBS had 9.44 million.

Once again, the cable networks weren’t far behind. CNN had the largest audience, averaging 9.23 million viewers, while Fox News followed with 8.77 million and Keith ‘Worst Announcer Ever’ Olbermann’s MSNBC trailed with a measly 3.77 million.

Below is a serious video analysis of the debate by The Times’ Peter Wallsten, who’s not wearing a tie because he works for a California newspaper.

-- Matea Gold and Andrew Malcolm

A straight version of this report by Gold previously appeared over on Show Tracker. Anything you don’t like in this item is Malcolm’s fault. (He wasn’t wearing a tie either.)

Speaking of ratings, you can now get alerts of each fresh item from The Ticket sent direct to your cell by going here to register free at Twitter.