VP debate does well, but not in L.A. *

Nielsen says that last night's Biden-Palin debate drew a much larger television audience — 45% of households in the 55 biggest metered metro areas — than the earlier McCain-Obama debate. But the ratings in Los Angeles were dead last at 34%. The debate was covered on NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX, PBS, CNN, Fox News, CSPAN, MSNBC, CNBC, Telemundo, and Telefutura. (Oops, forgot the link.)

* Updates:The Dodger playoff game is an obvious reason, but moreso is probably the time zone: the debate was not on in prime time here. Chicago ranked 40th, six points higher. Overall, Nielsen now says 69.9 million viewers watched, up 25 million over the Cheney-Edwards debate four years ago.