McCain-Obama debate tops first in TV viewers

By Dan Whitcomb

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The second nationally televised presidential debate between John McCain and Barack Obama drew 63.2 million viewers, over 10 million more than their first, Nielsen Media Research said on Wednesday.

But the audience was still smaller than the nearly 70 million people who tuned in for last week's clash between their vice presidential running mates, Republican Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska and Democratic Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware.

Tuesday night's tense contest, held less than a month before the November 4 election, saw McCain and Obama spar over the best way to help struggling U.S. workers and highlighted the difference in their economic approaches.

It was the second of three planned presidential showdowns, this one at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, and moderated by NBC newsman Tom Brokaw.

A pair of snap polls, taken immediately after the contest by CBS News and CNN, showed Obama was the winner, but some critics called it a dull evening that would not likely sway many voters one way or the other.

The Arizona senator was under pressure to turn in a strong performance that would halt Obama's recent surge.

A Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll of likely voters released on Wednesday showed Obama with a 47 percent to 45 percent edge on McCain, down one percentage point overnight and within the poll's margin of error of 2.8 points.

The most-watched presidential debate on record was the 1980 face-off between then-President Jimmy Carter and his Republican challenger, Ronald Reagan.

The showdown between Palin and Biden drew the biggest audience of any nationally televised debate in 16 years, going back to a match-up between then-president George H.W. Bush, Democrat Bill Clinton and independent Ross Perot.

(Editing by Philip Barbara)