The first debate between presidential candidates George W. Bush and John Kerry averaged a 39.4 U.S. household rating and was watched by 62.5 million viewers across the seven networks (ABC, CBS, NBC,
Fox, CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC) that carried it live between 9:00 and 10:30 (ET), according to estimates released Friday by Nielsen Media Research. That's significantly higher than the 31.7
rating and 46.6 million viewers for the Oct. 3, 2000 debate between Bush and Al Gore, the first of the 2000 presidential debates.
