The ratings for the second presidential debate between Barack Obama and John McCain were considerably larger than those of the first debate, but they were still smaller than the numbers for last week's record-setting vice presidential debate.

The overall household rating for the Tuesday night debate was 42.1. (One rating point equals 1% of the total TV audience in a given market.)

In comparison, the first debate earned only a 34.7 rating, while last week’s vice presidential debate between Sarah Palin and Joe Biden debate received a 45.0 rating.

Baltimore again had one of the nation's largest TV audiences -- finishing third with a 55.6 rating, which means more than one out of every two TV households in the market was tuned to the debate. The Nashville market, where the debate was held, had the largest TV audience, with a household rating of 59.2 rating.

National figures with the full viewer count will be releasaed later today.