The first debate took place in the Skirball Cultural Centre in Los Angeles
Presidential debates form a key part of the American electoral process.
And as Barack Obama and John McCain clashed, 大象传媒 correspondents were on hand to bring expert analysis of the candidates' performances.
The Talking America bus also set up its own debates, with panels of selected guests, an audience of voters, and questions emailed in from around the world.
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Los Angeles
Setting off from the West Coast, World Have Your Say presenter Ros Atkins begins the Talking America journey with a special debate - with World Service partner station KPCC - held at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles.
Central to the debate was America's place in the world - what Americans want the world to think of them, and what the world wants from America:
Guests:
- Richard Schiff, actor and star of TV series The West Wing
- Steve Grover, political editor of the YouTube website
- Martha de la Torre, CEO and publisher of the Spanish language publication El Classificado
- Dr Kantathi Suphamongkhon, former Thai foreign minister
- Tom Campbell, former congressman representing Silicon Valley
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Dallas, Texas
Dallas saw the end of the first part of the journey: from the west to the south.
To mark it, World Have Your Say presented a special programme about America's role as both global policeman and global banker.
The destruction of a hotel in Pakistan and turmoil on the US stock exchange were key themes in the debate:
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Oxford, Mississippi
The first of the live presidential debates came from the city of Oxford.
In light of the convulsions on Wall Street, Republican candidate John McCain had said he would not take part - but then changed his mind and headed to Mississippi.
The 大象传媒's Washington correspondent Jamie Coomarasamy presented highlights and analysis from the debate:
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Nashville, Tennessee
Ahead of the second presidential debate in Nashville - the home of country music - the 大象传媒 and PRI hosted their own debate with a panel of politicians and academics, taking questions from a live studio audience at the Frist Center for Visual Arts.
With one month to go, debated what really matters to the country and discussed what Americans really want from their next president:
Guests:
- Bill Outhier, commercial litigator worked as a lobbyist on Capitol Hill
- Bill Ivey, a former chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts under Bill Clinton and now director of the Curb Center for Art, Enterprise, and Public Policy at Vanderbilt University
- Carol Swain professor of political science and law at Vanderbilt University and contributor for CNN
- Gray Sasser, chairman of Tennessee Democratic party
The second presidential TV debate then took place on the Sunday. In a town hall-style meeting, voters were able to question the candidates directly. The financial crisis and foreign policy dominated the debate:
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Hempstead
James Coomarasamy analyses the third and final presidential debate.
It was a testy affair in which both candidates sought to position themselves as victims of unpleasant - and incorrect - attack ads:
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Multi-lingual debate
Readers from the 大象传媒's language websites discussed how the election results could change their perception of the US: