Ratings Surge for Presidential Debates

Viewer interest in the presidential campaign is surging.

Days after stunning finishes by Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in Iowa, ABC News' political debates Saturday evening broke previous tune-in records for the 2008 season, with 9.36 million viewers tuning in to the Democratic debate and 7.38 million to the Republican debate.

Fox News Channel’s Republican forum in New Hampshire Sunday drew 2.57 million viewers.

Even CNN got a boost from rerunning the ABC debates Sunday. Its tune-in for the Democrats was 1.43 million viewers, followed by the Republicans with 966,000.