Or so said John McCain, during a campaign stop in Denver.

A member of the audience asked Grandpa Simpson when the gloves would be coming off and Grandpa replied, "How about Tuesday night?"

Check back here for the liveblog during the debate, starting at about 9 p.m.

That's Samuel Augustus Maverick -- the original maverick - and his kin is pretty ticked off at John McCain for trying to portray himself as a maverick.

"I'm just enraged that McCain calls himself a maverick," Terrellita Maverick, 82, a San Antonio native, told the New York Times.

"It's just incredible -- the nerve! -- to suggest that he's not part of that Republican herd. Every time we hear it, all my children and I and all my family shrink a little and say, 'Oh, my God, he said it again'," she said.

He's a Republican," she said. "He's branded."

The Maverick family has a long, colorful history, mostly tied to progressive politics and causes, so it's understandable that they'd be angry with McCain.

Read the entire story here.

The presidential campaign is getting ugly and Tuesday night's debate should be a lot of fun.

The over-under on when John McCain takes a swing at Barack Obama is 30 minutes into the hour-and-a-half-long event.

I'll be liveblogging the sucker so stop by for the fun.

I'll be starting at about 9.

Now that John McCain's campaign has officially descended into the gutter and is relying completely on negative attacks against Barack Obama as a campaign strategy, it seems fitting to go back to 2000 and see what McCain had to say about negative campaigning.

On Feb. 21, 2000, on the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, McCain said, "Uh, I, I just have to rely on the good judgment of the voters not to buy into these negative attack ads. Sooner or later, people are going to figure out if all you run is negative attack ads you don't have much of a vision for the future or you're not ready to articulate it."

Really?

Keep that in mind as you are subjected to McCain's negative, fact-free ads over the next few weeks.

From the New York Times' Paul Krugman's blog:

"Unbelievable. Sarah Palin finished her closing remarks by quoting Ronald Reagan:

'It was Ronald Reagan who said that freedom is always just one generation away from extinction. We don't pass it to our children in the bloodstream; we have to fight for it and protect it, and then hand it to them so that they shall do the same, or we're going to find ourselves spending our sunset years telling our children and our children's children about a time in America, back in the day, when men and women were free.'

"When did he say this? It was on a recording he made for Operation Coffeecup -- a campaign organized by the American Medical Association to block the passage of Medicare. Doctors' wives were supposed to organize coffee klatches for patients, where they would play the Reagan recording, which declared that Medicare would lead us to totalitarianism.

"You couldn't make this stuff up."

Actually, as I said, at the rate we're going, we're going to be spending our sunset years asking our children and our children's children whether we can live in their basement.

Wondering how Sarah Palin was able to get through the debate without imploding?

Here's an explanation in flow-chart form, created by a blogger named Adennak:

That explains it.

John McCain, just 10 days ago, said the economy is doing peachy. I guess it is if your wife is a rich beer heiress.

But not so much for the 159,000 who lost jobs in September, according to the U.S. Labor Department report released this morning. So far this year, 760,000 jobs have disappeared from the economy.

The report contains a lot of dismal news. Unemployment is up to 6.1 percent. The real unemployment figure, which includes those who have given up looking for jobs is 11 percent.

The number of people working part-time jobs because they can't find full-time work has jumped. Wages, this year, have increased by 3.4 percent, but prices rose by 6 percent.

The Labor Department reported that the hurricanes in the Gulf Coast had little to do with the news.

Good news, though, is while the stock market plummets, the only company in the S&P 500 to see its stock rise is Campbell Soup. We're all going to be living on tomato soup in the future.

Have a nice day!

Read the government report here.

You may have heard some talk about mavericks. Now, pictured above, that's a Maverick.

One of the worst cars ever foisted upon an unsuspecting nation.

Let's put this "maverick" stuff to rest. John McCain and Sarah Palin aren't mavericks. If they were, perhaps their policies would sound different than the ones of the Bush administration, which, if you'll recall, have landed this country in some difficulty.

They're more like Pintos -- a couple hard hits and they'll go down in flames.

OK, it's over.

Palin didn't lose because she didn't sound like an idiot. She did sound like Marge Gunderson from "Fargo."

But she didn't sound like she had a mental disability. Of course, she never did answer any of Ifill's questions. She was pretty good at reciting her talking points and fragments of her stump speech. Her forced folkiness does grate in your nerves.

Biden didn't lose either because he didn't make any references to watching the video of George Washington crossing the Delaware.

If you were scoring it on which candidate actually addressed issues and policy instead of reciting memorized talking points punctuated with spunky folkiness, then Biden was the big winner.

But the experts will call it a draw.

At least for now. That could change as I have more time to examine this thing. But right now, it's time for a cold adult beverage.

Will it make a difference in the campaign? Doubt it, considering the American people have the attention span of mosquitoes on crystal meth...what was I saying?

Oh yeah. Adult beverage.

See ya all later.

Ten minutes to go and Palin refers to her experience as a mom.

Those playing the drinking game are lying face-down in your front yard in a pool of vomit.

She says McCain is a "maverick" again.

Those playing the drinking game are being loaded into the ambulance right about now.

Biden wants to address the maverick thing. Thank God.

McCain's not a maverick, Biden says, and runs over a lengthy list of things that indicate he's not a maverick.

Ifill: Last question of the night. Thank you, Jesus.

Palin says she's never changed her mind about anything. She really, really is George Bush in drag.

She's back to parroting campaign slogans.

Closing statements, finally.

She likes answering tough questions without the filter of the mainstream media. Yeah, that Katie Couric is one tough hombre.

We're blessed, she said. She quotes Reagan.

OK, enough already.

She says we're going to be telling our kids and grandkids about freedom. Nope, we're going to be telling them that they have to pay off the $700 billion debt we're leaving them, and by the way, can I live in your basement?

Biden waxing on about his old neighborhood.

His dad called him "champ."

That's it.

Thanks for coming,

Remember to tip your waitresses and bartenders.

And by the way, she never did call Biden "Joe."

OK, we're 40 minutes into this thing and we're getting closer and closer to victory in Iraq, according to Palin.

Really. I saw news today about a suicide bombing killing 20 in Baghdad.

Palin says Obama voted against troops. Biden is say McCain also voted against troops. So there you have it.

Biden: "We will end this war."

Palin: "White flag of surrender."

Biden: "John McCain has been dead wrong about Iraq."

Palin: "Nucular" again.

It's 9:47 p.m. How long is this thing supposed to be?

"Nucular" again.

She mentions "The Castro Brothers."

The Castro Brothers. I think I saw them open up for Santana in '79.

"They hate what we stand for with our freedoms?"

She really is George W. Bush.

Did she say Kissinger has "a passion for diplomacy"? Tell the Cambodians about that. If you can find any.

Biden: McCain hates Spain.

OK, almost an hour into it and Palin hasn't set the stage on fire or anything. She'll be declared the winner, or least be given a tie, because she hasn't come across as a blithering idiot.

Palin: Blame game.

She's starting to reiterate campaign slogans.

"Maverick," again.

Those playing the drinking game are calling old girlfriends and crying.

Oh no! A question about nuclear weapons!

It's Nu-klear-ar.

This will put those playing the drinking game over the edge.

We're building schools for children, she says.

Joe Biden refers to himself as "Joe Biden." He went almost an hour with doing that -- a new personal record, I believe.

Biden refers to citizens of Bosnia as "Bosniacs"? Really?

Palin refers to herself as "a Washington outsider."

They agree that genocide is bad.

They also agree that they like kittens.

Palin says John McCain knows how to win a war.

Hmmmmm, he was in Vietnam, right?

Biden brings up "the Bush doctrine." In what respect, Joey?

Palin: She and McCain are "a team of mavericks."

Those playing the drinking game are now peeing in your kitchen sink.

Palin: Say it ain't so, Joe.

She says teachers need to be paid more. So she supports teachers unions?

She gives a shout-out to third-graders

Apparently, Biden has read this Constitution thing and what it says about what the vice president does.

OK, it's 9 p.m. and as Keith Olbermann says, "It's debate night in America!"

Gwen Ifill is telling the crowd to be nice. "No outbursts."

Sarah Palin asks Biden, "Can I call you Joe?"

No, call him Ishmael.

Got my popcorn. Got my cold drink. (Green tea.) Let's get it on.

First question is about economy. Palin starts talking about kid's soccer games and lets out the night's first "Betcha."

She talking about how bad the economy is and that the government hasn't failed people. Let's see, who's been running the government for much of the past eight years?

9:08 p.m.: Palin winks for the first time. And she describes McCain and herself as "mavericks." Uses it again in same answer. You know, if you have to say you're a maverick, you really aren't.

First "Darn right" of the night.

Joe Six-Pack and hockey moms in the same sentence.

Biden mentions some guy at a gas station.

Another "darn right."

First mention of her work as mayor of Mayberry, Alaska.

If you're playing any of the debate drinking games, it would probably be a good idea to get a designated driver.

Palin: Government is the problem.

Tell that to the bankers who are asking the government for a little bit of help now.

She blasts government, especially how it's been run lately.

Who's been running it again? I think the lesson of the last eight years is people who think government can't work shouldn't be running it.

BIden: "Gwen, I don't know where to start."

Biden: First "bridge to nowhere" reference.

Why is Gwen Ifill even bothering to ask questions? At least Biden attempts to answer. Palin, as one of her former debate opponents said, is the master of the non-answer.

Catch-phrase of the day" Corruption and greed on Wall Street."

Palin says something about something "rearing its head."

Those playing a drinking game probably have to lie down about right now.

9:29 p.m.: What was the question again?

Palin: Drill, baby, drill!

OK, Ifill asks about climate change and Palin has a brief attack of incoherence and then finds a way to dodge the question and bring it back to drilling for oil in polar bears.

Global warming may or may not have something to with "the activities of man," she says.

Palin says it: "Drill, baby, drill."

Those playing the drinking game probably can't read this anymore.

Palin: Nucular.

My God, she's George Bush. Or maybe Homer Simpson.

Ifill asks about the gays. Let's see where this goes...

Palin said she doesn't have anything against the gays. But they can't have the same rights as heterosexuals. Marriage: One man, one woman.

Biden and Barack are against it too. So both sides are pretty much the same on this one.

Going to start a new file. This is getting too long.

Will it be something like this?

Some guy on TV is saying that to win tonight's debate, all Sarah Palin has to do is show up.

The bar hasn't been lowered. It's gone.

Anyway, the debate will be starting soon and I suspect that a lot of people will be tuning in for the same reason they watch NASCAR -- to see whether there's going to be a wreck.

Will Palin reprise her stellar performances from recent interviews, in which her answers have been described by some pundits as "word salads," a mishmash of talking points non sequiturs and just plain weirdness?

Will Biden come across as a big meanie? Will be say something stupid? Will he start laughing when Palin gives a meandering non-answer to any of the questions?

I'm waiting for the moment when Biden does a spit-take, spraying the stage at Washington University in St. Louis, when Palin describes her success in preventing Canada from invading Alaska. A headline on CNN.com's home page said, "Biden's challenge is keeping mouth shut."

Palin obviously is the focus of this debate, what with more than two-thirds of the electorate believing that she's woefully unqualified for the second-highest office in the land.

What's wrong with these people? She was in the PTA, for God's sake. She knows how to field-dress a moose.

Be back in a few minutes for the start of what many of us hope is the unintentional comedy highlight of the decade.

As we prepare for the great debate, here's Dave.

10. "Let's practice your bewildered silence"

9. "Can you try saying 'Yes' instead of 'You betcha'?"

8. "Hey, I can see Mexico from here!"

7. "Maybe we'll get lucky and there won't be any questions about Iraq, taxes, or health care"

6. "We're screwed!"

5. "Can I just use that lipstick-pit bull thing again?"

4. "We have to wrap it up for the day -- McCain eats dinner at 4:30"

3. "Can we get Congress to bail us out of this debate?"

2. "John Edwards wants to know if you'd like some private tutoring in his van"

1. "Any way we can just get Tina Fey to do it?"