September
4 Palin's Gangbuster Ratings

Thursday afternoon

Sarah Palin's convention debut drew 37.2 million viewers, just 1.1 million shy of the record set by Barack Obama when he gave his acceptance speech last week at Invesco Field.

Nielsen reports that Palin drew a large female audience of 19.5 million women, or 4.9 million more than the third night of the Democratic National Convention.

Another tidbit: Day 3 drew slightly more Hispanic viewers --- 1.4 million --- than Day 3 of the Democratic National Convention, with 1.2 million. Univision and Telemundo did not carry Palin's speech.

Other notes from this hour: Ralph Nader is here at the Xcel Center, making media appearances as he presses his case for inclusion in the presidential debates that start later this month.

Air America has announced that Ron Reagan will become a permanent host on the progressive radio network, starting on Monday.

Annette Bening says that the McCain campaign is practicing "bizarre" politics if it belkieves Sarah Palin will win over Hillary Clinton supporters.