Update 10:18 p.m. -  The Belmont debate is in the books and reporters are scrambling to get quotes from the campaign surrogates.

A team of NashvillePost.com reporters including Tom Wood, Walker Duncan, Ken Whitehouse and A.C. Kleinheider are in the mix working up a story that will be published in tomorrow's online edition of The City Paper. Before diving back in to get the word from the campaign flacks, here is what is really going on in the room.

As the debate was happening, teams of McCain press volunteers circulated throughout the room every five minutes or so handing out talking points. Each set of talking points were related to whatever McCain and Obama had just discussed. They were being generated on site in an area the McCain team had rented and then pulled off the copiers still warm and distributed to the press.

After the debate was over, over a hundred television cameras stood in wait by the front door of the media tent ready to pounce on the first campaign surrogate walked in. When a surrogate speaker did enter the room, a volunteer from their campaign trailed them with a large sign that had their name and their campaign logo printed on it. Reporters could easily from across the room where someone with either the Obama or McCain campaign was. It was a pretty efficient system.

Congratulations to Belmont University for pulling this thing off. The only complaint here was the leak in the tent directly over our computers. That and it was pretty strange to be washing your hands in the men's restroom only to look up and see some television reporter putting on make-up.

Again, be sure to catch tomorrow's edition of The City Paper for the spin.

Update 6:50 p.m. - We are now about an hour from the start, and a few more notable politicians have made their way into the media tent.

Senator Bob Corker barely got in the door before a number of local media solicited his two cents' worth. He said it has been two years since he last debated and he has "a lot of empathy and for both candidates because it is a nerve-racking experience." He advised McCain and Obama to be themselves, and not to overperform.

Like the other politicians who have come in the tent, he too said that he wanted to hear what the candidates would say about the economy but was disappointed that other issues such as health care have "fallen by the wayside."

Corker said that expected that the debate to be civil and practically echoed Bredesen's earlier remarks about how people in tonight's audience will want talk about their 401(k)s instead of Wall Street.

Corker lamented that he and his colleagues had not done a better job earlier in explaining that economic legislation passed last week was a "recovery package" and not a bailout. Both candidates tonight, he said, would have to explain that and show that they will have the ability to lead and shepherd the country through these times.

When asked about the tone of tonight's debate, Corker said that it should be civil and articulate and "that yap-dog piece doesn't work."

Just over his shoulder, Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill from Missouri was preparing to speak with MSNBC and spoke for a few moments before going on air.

"As much as John McCain doesn't want tonight to be about the economy, it is going to be about the economy, McCaskill said. "Character assassinations will hurt him if he goes there. The people have come and will watch because they want to talk about the issues. Barack Obama wants to talk about the issues. It will be a mistake if McCain doesn't do that."

Both McCaskill and Corker had high praise for each other, saying that despite their partisan differences, they have tremendous respect for each other and work well together.

"I like the format of a town hall meeting," Bredesen said. "The questions about the economy will be from a citizen's perspective. They won't be talking about what the Fed should, more discussion about things like 401(k)s."

Bredesen called McCain's early moves on addressing economic issues "erratic" and said they have resulted in the wind being at Obama's back for now. When asked what the candidates should say to address the concerns of those in tonight's audience, he said, "They should treat questions with great respect and work towards common sense solutions, beyond ideological ones."

Calling recent events the "worst economic disaster of my entire adult life," Bredesen said to get through this current crisis that McCain and Obama need to show that they will have a "steady hand on the wheel."

Cooper joined the chorus of local elected officials praising Belmont, calling the school's efforts to land the debate "one of the greatest public services they could have done for the community. This is $100 million of publicity for Nashville. We know that they are a great institution. Now, the world does, too."

One of Cooper's favorite topics is finance and he didn't miss the opportunity to speak to talk about congressional action on the economy. Eschewing "wreck on the highway" analogies, Cooper said that action taken by Congress last week was like seeing the doctor.

"It will take a while," he said. "When a doctor gives you a shot, it takes time to work."

Asked about further steps needed to pull the economy out of its tailspin, Cooper praised steps taken by the Federal Reserve today and said that the most important job he and his colleagues have is to "keep the economy strong."

The steps taken in the last week were "right but painful," he added.

An early supporter of Obama's, Cooper said that he expected tonight's debate will show "another smooth and confident performance by Obama and an increasingly desperate one by McCain. The worse the economy, the more it shows that McCain doesn't understand it and Obama does."

Update 2:37 p.m. - Things are slowly picking up a bit around the media tent as we get closer to debate time. More reporters are starting to mosey in and surrogate speakers for each campaign are beginning to circulate. Among them is Senator Lamar Alexander.

Alexander told us first what a great opportunity the debate is for the city and Belmont, pouring praise onto Belmont's Dr. Bob Fisher. Alexander said, "Having ESPN in town and then the debate in town within just three days of each is mind-boggling. Every university president dreams of letting the world know about their university, hoping they make the NCAA Final Four every year. For Belmont, this is like four Final Fours rolled up in one."

When asked about the congressional response to the financial meltdown on Wall Street, Alexander said that he supported the rescue plan because if it hadn't passed, things would have been much worse.

He said that the goal was to begin restoring confidence and stop the bleeding, then he referred back to his speech from the Senate floor, where he had characterized the whole mess as a "wreck on the highway" that needed to be pulled of the road.

"This plan won't solve the problem," Alexander said. "It was to keep the problem from getting worse."

He added that he has learned that about a third of all automobile loans are being turned down in Nashville right now because of the financial market meltdown and that others are now paying higher rates. But he added that if lawmakers had not taken those steps, lines of credit extended to businesses would have dried up.

Turning his focus to tonight's debate, Alexander said, "I expect and want to hear more about the future than the past. We need to hear more about how the next president will deal with terrorists, Wall Street, Congress, energy and more. If they spend too much time beating each other up, they will hurt their own causes."

It is an election year for Alexander as well and he hasn't been seen doing too much in the way of campaigning, although his first television commercial of the cycle began running last night. Asked about his campaign plans, Alexander said, "I am going to keep doing what a U.S. Senator should be doing. Instead of campaigning and going to rallies, I am meeting with people and doing what a U.S. Senator should be doing."

He then rattled off events that he will be attending in Millington, Nashville, Knoxville and other places.

Questioned about what things looked like for his Republican colleagues in the U.S. Senate who are on the ballot, Alexander said, "We have about four weeks to go and anything could happen in that time. There are five or six races that could go either way."

A number of vans just pulled into the secure area of Belmont's campus, and as was the case with McCain's motorcade, it was followed by an ambulance. That is standard for presidential-level motorcades.

The press that had been traveling with Obama, as well as the Democratic candidate's senior staff members, are now milling around the quad in front of the Curb Center, but there won't be an Obama sighting.

Both candidates, as they enter and leave the facilities, are taken through a parking garage that has another level of security that very few have access to. Basically, there are whole buildings that Belmont's president Dr. Bob Fisher couldn't get to now no matter what. The campus has pretty much been turned over to the Center for Presidential Debates and the U.S. Secret Service.

Update 12:04 p.m. – Apparently, the McCain team just got done with their walk-through of the site. Each campaign gets a bit of time to familiarize itself with the stage set-up and the room.

I almost got swept away with the motorcade while speaking with former Sundquist administration official and current Amerigroup VP Courtney Pearre and the Tennessee Retail Association's Roland Myers. Both had taken the day off from work to drive McCain senior staff in the motorcade.

While speaking, the bottom dropped out of the sky and Pearre invited me to jump in the McCain van for a bit to discuss Tennessee politics and the local races across the state.

At the same time, McCain's staff came running out of Belmont's Curb Center trying to dodge the rain and get in the vans. Secret Service agents started yelling that they were preparing to move out and I about got knocked over by a staffer leaping into the van.

The Obama team should be making their walk through soon. I think I'll stay out of the way this time.

Update 11:50 a.m. – At-large Councilman Ronnie Steine was among those who passed through Issue Alley on Belmont’s campus, where only a few spectators are milling about thanks to this morning’s heavy rain showers.