Live-Blog the Republican Presidential Debate

At 4:00 eastern, 3:00 central, the Republican Presidential candidates will debate economic issues in Michigan. The debate will be televised on CNBC, and will be shown again at 9 eastern, 8 central, on MSNBC.
The debate should be interesting in a number of respects. Most notably, it is Fred Thompson’s first debate appearance. Everyone will be watching to see how he performs, and I expect the other candidates to send a few shots his way.
The debate will be moderated by Chris Matthews, which is more or less like the Democrats agreeing to a debate moderated by Ann Coulter. Matthews has vowed to “go rip” if any of the candidates accuse him of being a partisan. Perish the thought!
Most of us won’t be able to watch the debate during the afternoon, but if you can, we’ve set up a group live-blog here, in the Power Line Forum. This has been a popular and entertaining way to watch prior debates; you can comment on the action as it occurs, and see what others think about the candidates and their answers. When the debate is re-shown tonight, the live-blog will continue. In the meantime, it will be a good way for those of us who can’t watch in the afternoon to see how others thought the debate went.
Finally, I’m happy to say that the Fred Thompson campaign has opened a site in the Candidates’ Forum. The Thompson page is here. You can drop by during the debate to let Fred know how you think he’s doing.
PAUL adds: Well into the debate, the folks on our forum mostly think that Fred is doing well.
UPDATE: Our live-bloggers’ commentary was lively, to say the least. It sounds as though the debate was worth watching. Live-blogging will resume when the debate is re-shown tonight.