Last week we had the pleasure of seeing Senator John Kerry and President Bush go man on man, in the first presidential debate. In fact, Zap2It said that the debate scored nearly 63 million viewers, and that’s not counting the eight of you that watched it on PBS.

Now, normally, we would cast a sideways glance at the vice presidential candidate debate, but the buzz is that this is one will actually be worth watching. The Post reported yesterday that the debate “has assumed critical importance, with Republicans depending on Vice President Cheney to halt the ticket’s slide in momentum.”

Veep candidates Cheney and Edwards square off tonight at 9pm for their one and only nationally televised debate. Here’s the rundown, courtesy of CNN:

October 5: Vice presidential debate
Location: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio
Length of debate: 90 minutes, starting at 9 p.m. ET
Topics: No limits on topics
Moderator: Gwen Ifill, senior correspondent for “The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer”
Format: Candidates will sit at a table with the moderator, with no audience participation. The moderator will ask at least 16 questions. A candidate will get two minutes to respond to a question; the other candidate will get 90 seconds to comment on the question or to respond to his rival’s answer.

One of the highlights of the last debate was the Daily Show’s post debate coverage. Think Stewart and the gang will be back for more? There’s only one way to find out.

(Image courtesy of AP)