Tonight President Barack Obama will be delivering an address to a joint session of congress that will be about the condition of the country and be held in late February, however it WON’T be the State of the Union. Technically Mr. Obama is not required to deliver a formal “State of the Union” because he was just inaugurated about a month ago. So tonight will have the look and feel of a State of the Union, it just won’t be called that. 

We will cover the President’s address from Richmond and will once again be looking for your input during our liveblog which will take place on nbc12.com. The liveblog will launch around 8:45 prior to the President’s speech. We will recap some of your best comments during our 11pm news and I will post some of them on my twitter feed as well. (Which if you aren’t following yet, sign up!)

We are also set to talk to Rep. Eric Cantor today about the speech. (ICYMI- Cantor had an interesting exchange with Obama yesterday and Politico had a story today about his relationship with his Democratic counterpart Steny Hoyer).

Tonight during the liveblog, we will be most interested in how you think the President’s plans could impact us here in Central Virginia. So read up and prepare. I will join you tonight on nbc12.com for the discussion.

We are getting set for our final liveblog of a presidential debate for this campaign season. John McCain and Barack Obama will face off at Hofstra University on Long Island. We will have our student liveblog corespondents throughout Central Virgina and you are welcome to join the conversation as well. I will also post interesting comments from our viewers on my twitter page.

Here is where everyone will be:

Ryan Nobles- NBC12 Studios

 Victoria Millefolie and Grant Shumaker- Chesterfield McCain/Palin Victory Headquarters, Hull Street Road

Jessie Ransom and Josh Haskins- Obama Debate Watching, Underground Commons, VCU Campus

Ryan Nobles - bio | email

Today I spoke to a group of aspiring Journalism students at Virginia Commonwealth University. We got on the topic of potential jobs in the field of television news and I got off an admittedly windy rant about how those of us who are in front of the camera are such a small part of the overall news product. The point was to express to them that as they head into their internships to keep an open mind about all the different jobs in a newsroom and how many of them can be as or more rewarding as being an on-camera contributor. I also talked about how they play such an important role in making those of us who you do see every night look good. (as hard as that might be)

This was never more apparent to me tonight. Our liveblog is a delicate balancing act of our newsroom attempting to keep the conversation flowing online, while at the same time preparing our story for the 11pm newscast. Tonight, we were (and I am not complaining) overrun with comments on the blog. Which is not a bad thing, but it makes life difficult while you are writing a story and trying to approve comments for the liveblog. (each one has to be individually approved, to avoid profane language or inappropriate comments getting on) 

I made the mistake of getting overwhelmed by the blog instead of focusing on getting my story written in a reasonable time frame for my photographer Jamie Rife, to get it edited on time. In addition, I didn’t make a careful note of when the comments I wanted to use appeared, so as I was scrolling through the liveblog, trying to find them (through the dozens and dozens of comments), Jamie just waited patiently for me to find it and get my story written. 

To make a long story short, I didn’t get him the finished script until about 10 minutes before the newscast, which is not enough time. But he didn’t flinch, he just took, got it done and we got it on the air. And it looked good, I looked good and I owe that to him. (I also should give a shout out to Jerry Brown who shot the video today and did a nice job as well). 

So to recap. Our liveblog was a TREMENDOUS success today. We had terrific contributions and that was wonderful. But the overwhelming participation put me way behind and Jamie saved me. 

In this business, we often don’t give those of us who don’t get recognized at the grocery store enough credit. So, if you see a big guy with a WVU hat in the grocery story, go up and tell him he did a nice job the night of Tuesday October 7th. He probably won’t know what you’re talking about, but he still deserves it.

We are all set for our third liveblog of a presidential debate. We have student reporters out at locations in Richmond for campaign sponsored watching parties.

Here is a rundown of where everyone will be:

Ryan Nobles- NBC12 Studios

Elsie King and Karla Otero- McCain Watching Party, McDermott Residence Forest Hill Area, Richmond.

Brian Whitton and Sarah Aboul-Hosn – Obama Watching Party, The Underground Commons @ VCU

Interestingly, the guest of honor at the Richmond Obama watching party is Terry McAuliffe, the Clinton Confidante and potential candidate for Virginia Governor in 2009. Brian and Karla are going to try and talk to him about his prospects for the Governor’s mansion.

In addition to the liveblog, if you are on the road, check my twitter page at twitter.com/ryanobles. I plan to post interesting contributions from the liveblog there.

Ryan Nobles - bio | email

Tonight is the second debate between Barack Obama and John McCain. We will once again be joined by student reporters from Manchester High School who will help us by liveblogging from a debate watching party hosted by both campaigns. 

As always, you are welcome to join us by commenting on the liveblog. Our coverage on decisionvirginia.com  will start around 8:45pm, our coverage on NBC12 begins at 9. Tom Brokaw is the moderator and the format will be a town hall style. The style allows the candidates to move around a bit as opposed to being stuck behind a podium. In the past this has caused some awkward, but memorable moments.  

I also have broke down and set up a Twitter account, which I welcome you to follow me on. The unique quick updates will allow me the chance to get out rapid information as it comes in to me. For instance yesterday (which is my normal day off) I was spending the day in Northern Virginia with my wife when I received word that the Republican ticket was planning on making a swing through Virginia. I didn’t have access to my blog to get it out there, but I would’ve had access to my twitter account. So in the future, if you haven’t seen an update on here, check the twitter account, which will always have the latest information I have available to me. 

I probably will also make inane comments about my favorite sports teams, the weather or my pets. Which may make you more or less interested in signing up to follow me. 

Check back for updates often and don’t forget to participate in tonight’s liveblog!

Don’t forget, NBC12 will have live coverage of the final debate between Senate candidates, Jim Gilmore and Mark Warner. Our coverage starts at 7pm. In addition to our television coverage, log on to www.decisionvirginia.com to take part in our liveblog, where you can give your opinion on the event.

We are all set for another liveblog, this one will provide instant reaction to the Palin-Biden debate on our website www.decisionvirginia.com. We have another excellent group of student-reporters from Manchester High School to bring us the perspective from debate watching parties for both camps.

Here is a rundown of where our contributors will originate from:

Ryan Nobles- NBC12 Studios

Cole Underwood and Jessica Dunn- Richbrau Brewing Co. and Restaurant, Shockoe Slip

Victoria Millefolie- The Byrne Residence, Richmond, VA

And don’t forget to join in as well. Our liveblog begins at 8:55 at decisionvirginia.com

Ryan Nobles - bio | email

There is no doubt that there is a lot riding on tonight’s Vice Presidential debate between Sarah Palin and Joe Biden. After a pretty even Presidential debate, it seems that this could be a make or break night for the McCain-Palin ticket. Palin’s sensational entrance on to the national scene has been muted after a few less than impressive interviews. If she stumbles tonight in front of what is expected to be a large television audience, the McCain camp may not be able to recover. 

We will once again, give you an instant idea of how Central Virginians are reacting to the Palin-Biden tilt. We will have our student reporters from Manchester High School liveblogging from a local Biden watching party and a local Palin watching party. I will be back at the NBC12 studios moderating the conversation, which you are welcome to take part in. Our coverage will begin right before the debate starts at 8:55pm. 

And once again, in the wake of another major campaign moment, the Obama-Biden team has planned yet another trip to Virginia. Barack Obama will visit Newport News on Saturday. It will be interesting to see how frequent these visits will be after the voter registration closes on October 6th. The Democrats are working hard to register new voters, because they believe the majority of new voters are their voters. 

It is also worth pointing out, that since claiming the nomination, the Obama team has visited Virginia many times, but have only been to Richmond twice. One visit by the candidate himself and one by his wife, Michelle. Could that be one of the reasons that he has not made the same kind of strides in the Richmond area that he has in other parts of the state?

That being said, Senator McCain has only been to Central Virginia once and that was only for a private fundraiser.

Ryan Nobles - bio | email

In the wake of debate 1, we have the democratic nominees in the commonwealth, a new poll that is painting Virginia blue, and very positive reactions to our liveblog which you were able to participate in. 

First looking forward, in another example of just how important the Democrats regard Virginia, Barack Obama and Joe Biden will be here today. They will hold a rally in Fredericksburg the day after the first debate. You may recall that Obama made Virginia his first stop after Hillary Clinton dropped out of the race for president. 

And there is no doubt the Democrats are spending more time here and it appears to be paying off.  A new poll, this one out by Rasmussen, gives Barack Obama the lead in the commonwealth. They have Obama up 50%-45% and that is enough to bump him up in the RCP Average to a lead of 1.8%. Interestingly if you have paid any attention to the RCP electoral college map in the last three weeks, you probably noticed that if the map has changed it has been because the numbers in Virginia keep going back and forth. 

Back to last night’s debate, the overall reaction was that there was no clear winner. Both candidates seemed to overcome some of the criticisms of their earlier debate styles. Some viewed the exchange as boring. It seems unlikely that it will provide any seismic shift in the poll numbers, which could mean the upcoming VP debate is going to be even more important. 

And we were glad to provide instant, local reaction from people right here in Central Virginia in our liveblog. We had a very lively exchange and help from some terrific student reporters from Manchester High School. You can take a look back at what every one said on decisionvirginia.com.

We don’t have a 6pm newscast tonight, so I will see you later at 11pm, and I’ll update you with any new political information right here.

Our first debate liveblog just wrapped up and I want to thank all of our contributors. I think we had an excellent exchange on the issues.

You can take a look back at what was said by logging on to: www.decisionvirginia.com.

Feel free to also leave comments right here on this blog as well!

Thanks again to everyone who took part.