TVSquad

Conventional wisdom says that vice presidents don't matter much when it comes time to vote, that people ultimately make their choice based on who's running for president. However, when it comes to debates, VEEPs are the main event.

The Nielsen numbers are in for last night's debate between Vice Presidential candidates Joe Biden and Sarah Palin and they're huge -- 69.9 million viewers watched the VEEP debate. That's a whopping 17.5 million more viewers than Barack Obama and John McCain drew for their first debate last Friday night.

Why were so many more people tuned in for Biden-Palin? There are a few reasons, starting with the curiosity about Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.

Have you been wondering where Joe Scarborough has been on Morning Joe the past few weeks? The titular star of the show has been off the air, missing all the doings with Senator Hillary Clinton suspending her campaign for president and Senator Obama Barack becoming the presumptive Democratic candidate.

For months and months of the primaries, Joe and the Morning Joe team were in the thick of it every morning ... and then Joe was gone.

Well, the reason for Scarborough's absence is due to a family illness. In May, Joe's wife Susan gave birth to their son Jack. Unfortunately, Jack wasn't due to arrive until August. He was severely premature, weighing just 2 lbs., 3 oz. He had to be kept at the hospital in an incubator and fattened up. As of this Monday, his weight was up to 4 lbs., 10 oz. and the doctors declared he was ready to go home.

Morning Joe regulars Willie Geist and Mika Brzezinski went on the air Tuesday with the story and assured viewers that Joe will be back on camera soon. I wish the Scarboroughs well and hope baby Jack continues to thrive.

MSNBC correspondent and anchor David Shuster finds himself in not one but two controversies today.

First, while filling in for Tucker Carlson yesterday, Shuster made the comment "Doesn't it seem like Chelsea's sort of being pimped out in some weird sort of way?" referring to Chelsea Clinton's campaigning for her mother Hillary and making phone calls to superdelegates and The View. Well, Democratic officials (and MSNBC execs) aren't happy with the remark, and have threatened to pull out of the February 26 MSNBC debate. Shuster apologized this morning and also plans to go back on Carlson's show today to apologize again. (Update: Shuster has been suspended for his comment!)

But that's not the only controversy Shuster is in the middle of this week...

"Truculence!": FOX News' Chris Wallace was being a real douchebag (lack of a better word... except maybe "prick") to Bill Clinton during his interview. Surprisingly enough, Clinton fought back really aggressively and really let Wallace have a piece of his mind. Clinton also said some really solid, informative things, but, no no, the media wanted none of that and focused solely upon Clinton's outburst. Jon did a really good bit here. I suppose he felt even more compelled to back up Clinton because the man was a (really great) guest on The Daily Show just last week. Senior Media Watchdog Samantha Bee briefly elaborated on the issue.

We -- and by "we", I mean "I" -- interrupt this post to mention some nifty news: America: The Book is now in a paperback teacher's edition! Burn your hardcovers and buy these new ones (Amazon.com has a nice clip of Jon talking about the paperback).