3 ways to participate in the presidential debate

Barring any unforeseen "suspension" of the campaigns, presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama will face off in their first of three debates tonight at 6 p.m. In the interest of democracy, we thought we would help you, the people, become part of the fray.
1. Throw a debate party.
The official Web site of the Commission of Presidential Debates has tips on how to host a "DebateWatch." The kit includes discussion questions. The site also has transcripts of past and present debates and a section on debate history.

2. Do a dramatic interpretation.
Re-create what you saw, or stage your own confrontations with candidate finger puppets you can download at www.folduscandidate.com.

3. Twitter your profound thoughts and see them on TV live.
Social media site Twitter and cable network Current TV plan to team up to get real-time reaction to the debate through a project they are calling "Hack the Debate." You need a Twitter account and the ability to use a computer or mobile device to send Tweets. Then post your comments and include #current in your tweet. For example: "All this talk about global warming is making me hot. #current." Then moderators will sort out the riff-raff and put up as many tweets as they can. Here's how they expect it to work, according to the Current Web site:

"We're expecting to be flooded with tweets during the debates, and the space provided to display tweets on TV will be somewhat limited. So, we will be filtering for the obvious stuff (hate speech, death threats, anything that violates broadcast standards, etc.), but we will also be pulling primarily from tweets that include the #current hashtag and really stand out.
When you get flooded by someone tweeting inappropriately on Twitter, you simply un-follow them, but when watching our broadcast viewers won't have that ability. So we will help out in that regard.
Not every tweet can make it to the screen, but we will try to cram as many in as possible within the time allotted."