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In preparation for covering NPR's Oct. 15 "National Listening Party" at the Inn at Virginia Tech, I stayed up Tuesday night (Oct. 7) to listen to the 11 p.m. Columbus, Ohio broadcast.

The raw, unscripted nature of the show caught my attention and made it probably the most engaging after-debate analysis I've heard in several election cycles. One caller even worked himself up enough to get a "hell" in during his comments.

The hour-long format includes a little of everything: It's got a host (Neal Conan of NPR's "Talk of the Nation" show), an expert panelist (on Tuesday it was NPR political editor Ken Rudin) who chimes in with facts and background information, a live audience free to ask questions or make comments, and callers from all over the country.

But there were clever twists. Callers were asked to dial different phone numbers depending on their political leanings -- one line dedicated to Republicans, another to Democrats and a third for independents. Callers were asked to comment on what their chosen cadidate did well or could have done better during the debate, giving them a chance to argue for their guy.

Independents were asked to comment on which candidate swayed them and why, one of the most fascinating parts of the program. Questions and comments were also solicited by e-mail and read aloud to the audience and the panelist for further discussion.

I was impressed with Conan's ability to guide the conversation without stifling it, especially given that the callers and audience members were by and large regular people with little public speaking experience. He is scheduled to host the Blacksburg show, too.

Overall, the broadcast made me wonder what a real old-fashioned debate might have been like (the Lincoln/Douglas or even the Nixon/Kennedy) before politicians got to the set the rules, before the age of the celebrity journalist moderator and the 60-second rebuttle.

Most compelling, though, were the comments on the economy coming from people who are already suffering and looking to the next president for help.

One woman chastized both candidates for failing to tell the American people how difficult the months and years ahead will be as the country tries to recover from the ongoing collapse of our financial markets. She accused McCain and Obama of ignoring the realities and abdicating their responsibility to speak the truth to voters.

My heart ached for a truck driver who called in to advocate off-shore oil drilling in U.S. waters. He talked about how both he and his wife had been laid off from their jobs after more than 20 years with their companies, how he started work as a long-haul truck driver to keep them afloat. But he's worried about being laid off again.

With obvious desperation, he described how the trucking company is cutting its routes. A tank full of diesel used to cost about $150, he said. Today it takes $500 to fill up his rig. He said he wanted the next president to deal with this problem, to save his job.

Rudin pointed out, with some sadness in his voice, that experts say domestic off-shore drilling will have little or no short- or long-term effect on petroleum prices.

Now I'm eager to hear what's on the minds of those in the Blacksburg audience. Because the show broadcasts at 11 p.m., don't expect to see much in the print edition of the newspaper on Oct. 16. But I'll be blogging from the Inn and likely filing something online after midnight.

To request a seat in the live audience, send e-mail to debates@npr.org.

Listeners may call in to the program using the following lines: (800) 344-3893 (Republicans); (800) 344-3864 (Democrats); (800) 989-8255 (Independents). Questions may also be submitted through e-mail to: talk@npr.org.

I couldn't find a podcast or transcript of the Oct. 7 National Listening Party, but as a bonus for reading this long blog post, here's an NPR link to some fact checking of Tuesday night's debate.

-- Tonia Moxley