Presidential Debate Live Blog - Tonight!

MANCHESTER, NH - The candidates for the Republican nomination for President of the United States will face off tonight at the University of New Hampshire for a Presidential debate. With the stakes rising as voters begin to pay attention and the Presidential candidates grow more aggressive toward each other, the evening promises to be exciting to say the least.

The big storyline of this debate is a non-participant: former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson. At some point this afternoon, the Thompson campaign will leak an advertisement to FOXNEWS and the other cable channels that will run in a :30 second slot before the debate on FOXNEWS. The ad will, undoubtably, play for free dozens of times this evening in the run-up to the debate. After the debate, Thompson will be appearing on the Jay Leno Show to talk about his Presidential candidacy.

The Union-Leader here in Manchester has already blasted Thompson for skipping out on this debate, writing: "Politically, Thompson ought to come to the debate. Avoiding it costs him statute, which is his chief political commodity right now". The other candidates have taken some shots at Thompson already, and surely at least some of the 90 minute debate tonight will be dedicated to the "Fred Thompson" question.

Thompson or bust, the action tonight will be on the floor of the Whittemore Center Arena at the University of New Hampshire. Normally a big ice hockey rink for the perennially tough UNH Hockey team, the arena tonight will hold more than 4,000 attendees watching the Republican Presidential candidates spar from 9pm - 10:30pm.

You can follow all the action from the debate here at The Everyday Republican, where we will be live-blogging, starting at 5pm tonight, live from the University of New Hampshire - Durham for the first post-Labor Day Republican Presidential debate.