Didn't these guys say all these things in the first debate? If not for the live "town hall" questioners, I'd swear this was a rerun.

I think I'm going to just watch and not blog. Let's see if I can resist the impulse.

Good article about Stephen Colbert appearing at the New Yorker Festival recently. Let me know if you see a link to an online video of the conversation. Thanks to James Troutman for telling me about this.

Robert Spina just sent me this…

I would pay real money if, just as the candidates shake hands at the start of tonight's debate, with his mic open, Barack Obama says to John McCain: "Can I call you Joe?"

Another debate tonight. A lot of folks who tuned in the vice-presidential match-up were disappointed that neither candidate set some new high watermark for saying stupid things. It was supposed to be Gaffe-a-palooza and while it yielded enough silliness to keep Tina Fey in business, it wasn't like Lloyd Bentsen knocking Dan Quayle into the laughingstock category from which he never quite returned. (Then again, he did get elected…)

I suppose a lot of people are tuning in tonight to see if John McCain is going to explode and start cursing and screaming. They'll probably be disappointed, too…as will anyone expecting to hear the issues debated. Lynn Sweet explains what seem to me like very silly rules for the match-up…rules that seem calculated to minimize the chance of either candidate having to defend anything they say. (Although Ben Smith says that contrary to Sweet's report and others, moderator Tom Brokaw may be asking follow-ups.)

To me, "town hall" format debates are a sham. They're a way to make sure that tepid, pre-screened questions are posed by people who seem like they're representative of the population. But the population wants candidates to answer hard questions and for those answers to stand up to a little cross-examination and questioning…and the "town hall" construction doesn't lend itself to that. In fact, tonight, the questioners are forbidden to say things like, "But you didn't answer my question" or "But isn't that a total contradiction of what you said six months ago?"

Grown men and women who want to lead us should be able to stand or sit on a stage for 90 minutes and discuss the issues and defend their position without "rules" that limit how long they can talk, whether they can address one another directly, etc. Sarah Palin is a pretty good example of why follow-ups are needed. She sounds relatively informed and coherent until someone asks one.

I may or may not be live-blogging tonight, depending on how a script is going. Big week for deadlines around here.

Never mind all this stuff with the economy and the wars. Let's talk about something important.

This month, the Souplantation chain (which calls itself Sweet Tomatoes in some areas) is doing a special "Our Guests Choose Our Best" promotion. Each week, there will be special menu items that have been the subject of customer requests. I don't understand why, if customers like this stuff so much, they don't offer it year round…but hey, there are a lot of things in this world I don't understand. Anyway, the schedule says that they'll have my favorite — their Creamy Tomato Soup — the week of October 20-25. Guess where I'll be eating October 20-25.

It sounds like a six-day week but it'll really be seven at most outlets. The Souplantation officially changes its menu on Mondays but they give their managers the flexibility to put out the new items a day or two early if they're running low on the items that are being taken off the bill of fare. A new item could be available as early as the Saturday before and could even linger into the following week. So call ahead.

And if you eat there and like my favorite soup even a little bit, ask to speak to the manager and say something like, "I'll be back again in March or whenever you have the Creamy Tomato Soup again…but until then, I'm not setting foot in this dump." Even if you plan on setting foot in that dump without it, tell them you won't and maybe they'll get the message.

I'll remind you again later in the month.

This election, I'm as interested in the candidates' health plans as I am in anything they have to offer. A big reason I'm for Obama is that he has one and while I don't think it's perfect, it would make things better and lead us in the right direction. McCain's, on the other hand, seems like it'll make things worse. Laura Meckler explains how McCain figures to pay for his health plan. It involves slashing Medicare and Medicaid by $1.3 trillion.

Back in my computer chair and all unpacked. I'll write more about the trip later…or maybe tomorrow.

Now, I'm blogging while waiting at the Baggage Claim at LAX. I'm not sure why I'm doing this, either.

And this message is being posted from the food court in Midway Airport in Chicago where we're changing planes.

This message is being posted from a Chili's Too restaurant in Columbus International Airport.

That's not a photo of Jack Benny. That's a photo of Eddie Carroll. I've mentioned Eddie before here. He's the actor-writer who does a superb impression and re-creation of the legendary comedian. I am generally not a huge fan of extended impressions but there are exceptions. One, which I've mentioned many times here, is Frank Ferrante, who tours in a show that replicates Groucho Marx. Equally astounding and entertaining is Eddie Carroll's one-man Benny fest…a whole evening of "Jack" telling his life story, performing some of his best material and even, God help us, playing the violin.

Eddie does his show all over America and for years now, I and other friends have nagged him to do it close enough to Los Angeles so that we could go see it without spending more for gas than Mr. Benny ever would. Well, we have our chance but for one night only.

October 19, he's doing two shows at the Scherr Forum in Thousand Oaks. Originally, it was just going to be one matinee performance but tickets sold so briskly (there are only a few left) that an evening performance has been added. Since it hasn't been well publicized yet, there are good seats available for the evening show but they will almost certainly sell out. In fact, I just bought a large block of them for a bunch of my friends and me…so you'd better act quickly. Go to this page at Ticketmaster — where, by the way, they also have seats for one show he's doing in San Diego on December 7. And check out Eddie's schedule to see when he'll be Bennying in your town or hamlet.

Almost every time Frank Ferrante does his Groucho show in some city, I get an e-mail or two from someone thanking me for recommending a visit. Well, this is the same kind of recommendation. If you love Jack Benny, you won't want to miss it. And if you don't love Jack Benny, then…oh, forget it. There isn't anyone who doesn't love Jack Benny.