Like me, Fred Barnes pines for a return of Rick Warren’s Saddleback Forum:

“Oddly enough, it wasn’t a journalist who staged the best debate between McCain and Obama. It was an ordained minister, Rick Warren of Saddleback Church in California [...] Their answers gave voters a far better idea of what makes the two candidates tick than all the policy-reality questions asked in the two official presidential debates and one vice presidential debate.

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Once again for Youth Vote, Hustler editor Mike Warren and I provide a little video commentary on the debate which has already begun repressing itself in my mind for its sheer tedium.

Aside from that, I weighed in on the debate with the eloquently titled “McCain missed” for today’s Hustler. A morsel:

“There is a certain circle of hell, designated for Beltway Insiders, where the Belmont debate will be played on a continuous loop for the rest of time. Despite breathless anticipation for a riveting, running rebel, garage band type of town hall forum, we got a debate that did its damnedest to bore the financial crisis to an end.”

The column’s largely on both candidates’ push towards intense regulation and why that breaks my tiny, tiny heart of stone. Also, for Youth Vote, I broke down why the Belmont debate failed to capture Nashville at its core and suffered for it.

America’s political circus came to town Tuesday and the midway was the Belmont University campus, where the sideshows included political impersonators and musical entertainment.

The university was flooded by a spirited mass of political enthusiasts decked out in variations of red, white and blue.

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Braving rain and wind, I trekked over to Belmont to catch all the finest moments of the debate atmosphere, here we go:

The entire area was just crawling with Obama supporters, though I found more McCain supporters than other Hustler people who were down there — they’re just drawn to me.

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First of all, I’m not writing about the Vice-Presidential debate. I was tempted, as anyone would be, but after seeing everything else that has been written about the debate, I knew I wouldn’t be able to say anything original. Actually, Sarah Palin sounded really intelligent, and I hope she runs our country one day. That would be original.

Campus today has been abuzz with talk over the Presidential debate that will occur tonight right down the street at Belmont University. I had fairly low expectations for the last debate, and unfortunately, I was right. The debate was pretty dull. Barack talked about change and George W. Bush. McCain talked about experience and war and blah blah blah. Despite desperate pleas by the moderator, the two did everything they could to avoid interaction with one another. Basically, anyone who’s been following the campaign could have mapped out exactly how that debate would go before it ever even began.

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Dana Millbank wants to make clear that Palin rallies have devolved into French Terror levels of mob mentality:

“Palin’s routine attacks on the media have begun to spill into ugliness. In Clearwater, arriving reporters were greeted with shouts and taunts by the crowd of about 3,000. Palin then went on to blame Katie Couric’s questions for her ‘less-than-successful interview with kinda mainstream media.’ At that, Palin supporters turned on reporters in the press area, waving thunder sticks and shouting abuse. Others hurled obscenities at a camera crew. One Palin supporter shouted a racial epithet at an African American sound man for a network and told him, ‘Sit down, boy.’”

The first and second half of that paragraph only tangentially related to one another; by placing them together, he subtly implies Palin’s endorsement (or, at least, toleration) of casual racism. Solid city, y’all. Althouse gloriously shoots the defeatist train of thought down:

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Detention…er…debate rules via Lynn Sweet (h/t Kleinheider):

“An audience member will not be allowed to switch questions. Under the deal, the moderator may not ask followups or make comments. The person who asks the question will not be allowed a follow-up either, and his or her microphone will be turned off after the question is read. A camera shot will only be shown of the person asking — not reacting.

While there will be director’s chairs (with backs and foot rests), McCain and Obama will be allowed to stand — but they can’t roam past their ‘designated area’ to be marked on the stage. McCain and Obama are not supposed to ask each other direct questions.

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Intrepidly, I walked over to Belmont this evening to see what was happening on the ground and took a few photos of Vandy’s redheaded stepsister and her big day.

Looks classy — and fenced in. Not shocking or anything, but the entire campus looks like something from a state prison or a theme park (…are those things really any different?); you’re very limited in where you can go. Except the media, who have the best kind of transportation you can have:

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Political scholars, journalists and pundits will offer their informed perspective on where the 2008 presidential election is headed during an Oct. 7 forum for students that is sponsored by Vanderbilt University and the First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt.

“The 2008 Presidential Election: Where We Stand and Where We Are Headed” will be led by John Seigenthaler, founder of the First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt, and Harold Ford Jr., a visiting professor of political science at Vanderbilt and former congressman. The discussion will be from 10 a.m. to noon. Read more »