CBSSo, apparently face-to-face negotations really can pay off.
Last night's audience for David Letterman and John McCain's summit meeting was Late Show's biggest since Letterman and Oprah Winfrey reached an on-air peace accord in December 2005, CBS said.
The McCain show averaged an estimated 6.5 million viewers. It trounced Jay Leno's Tonight Show, which countered with Barack Obama running mate Joe Biden, but probably should have checked to see if Sarah Palin was available.
Speaking of Palin…
McCain's vice presidential pick is widely expected to make her own foray into late-night TV via tomorrow night's Saturday Night Live—an event that McCain joked to Letterman would outdraw his and Obama's last debate.
Funny, but not likely.
McCain-Obama III, held Wednesday night, was watched by a healthy 56.5 million, Nielsen Media Research said. The debate was bigger than the first one (52.4 million), though smaller than the second (63.2 million).
On average, the McCain-Obama debates outdrew the 2004 President Bush-John Kerry debates, 57.4 million to 53.5 million.
More impressive, they even outdrew McCain-Letterman.