Is debate coverage getting better with each presidential election? 3,000 photographers, videographers and journalists at Ole Miss are gearing up for the first McCain/Obama exchange. I spent my lunch hour today hopping around the past. Podiums have been the prop of choice since Kennedy and Nixon sparred in 1960. One diva demand then – both sides requested the moderator sit behind a desk so the candidates would be more separated on the stage.

The Museum of Broadcast has great visuals – pics and video – of presidential debates from 1960-2000. Fabulous ‘natural’ image of a family watching the Kennedy/Nixon debate in their very clean living room

ABC News has only podium moments. But worth a look at the gallery for the captions, including Bentsen’s classic Quayle insult: “Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy, I knew Jack Kennedy, Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you are no Jack Kennedy.”

Remembering Historical Debates