Tonight, 7 p.m., live-blogging the Democrats!

Why did the Democrats schedule a debate for a Sunday night? Who wants to watch Hillary & Co. spout “I really believe in the importance of health care, Wolf,” platitudes, for two straight hours? Who can’t wait to see if Mike Gravel starts taking a literal swing at his opponents?

Urgh. As usual, I watch these things so you don’t have to. The fun starts in a few hours, and goes on for 120 minutes of non-stop thrills. Really.

UPDATE: Okay, really: Why hold a debate on a Sunday night? We’ll see when the ratings come out, but the instinct is that this will reach fewer voters than a weeknight debate. (Maybe the audience in New Hampshire will be disproportionate.)

Ed Rollins, appearing with Lou Dobbs right now, just said that the debate’s impact is likely to be mostly local.