In Key West, Monday night's third and final presidential debate before the Nov. 6 election was far from the only game in town, landing at the start of the week-long Fantasy Fest binge.

Add to that a playoff elimination baseball game that will decide who takes on the Detroit Tigers in the World Series, which starts Wednesday, and a mid-season pro football game known for a big Monday night draw.

So who had time for a live face-off on foreign policy between President Barack Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney?

"It's Fantasy Fest," said Mark Rossi, the city commissioner and owner of Duval Street party spots. "Some people do. People who are paying attention."

The nation's eyes on Monday were fixed on Florida, a swing state in which both Romney and Obama have intensified their efforts.

"If Obama is to win Florida, he has to do very well in Miami-Dade and Monroe County," said Phil Schaeffer, chairman of the Monroe County Democratic Executive Committee. "He really has to outperform what he did in 2008."

Obama's team has two campaign workers assigned to the county Democrats' office on Truman Avenue, and another pair in Key Largo.

Today, the Democratic National Committee is sending down two additional workers, said Schaeffer, who watched Monday's debate with a bunch of Democrats at the Truman Avenue headquarters.

Up in Marathon, the Republican Party of Monroe County held its own debate-watching party, said chairwoman Debby Goodman.

But the Key West bars focused more on Monday's huge sports night.

Finnegan's Wake in Old Town hosted local political forums for School Board candidates and other contests, and dedicated its back room to the first two presidential debates.

Pub owner Jean Star-Dillon said she had to cater to her customers' sports appetites, declining to host a third public debate party. It wasn't due to attendance.

"Every chair was filled," said Star-Dillon, of the first debate party. "People were remarkably quiet and well-behaved. And no one asked them to be."

And Key West certainly had a contingent of residents eagerly awaiting the debate's 9 p.m. start -- in their homes.

"My friends care," said Molly Blue, a Keys radio DJ who's lived here for 17 years. "They're all going to be watching it and we will be texting each other throughout."

Blue subscribes to the every-vote-counts philosophy, rooted in the 2000 presidential contest in which Florida's popular vote went to Al Gore, but the electoral votes were awarded to George W. Bush after a 5-4 U.S. Supreme Court decision.

"All chads aside, this town could have had an affect," said Blue.

The Obama/Biden ticket won Monroe County in 2008 with 52 percent of the vote, along with Florida, 51 to 48, over the GOP, delivering 27 electoral votes to the Democrats.

But 2008 sported a John McCain/Sarah Palin offering that was much weaker than the Romney/Ryan bid.

"I'm concerned," said Clayton Lopez, a city commissioner and registered Democrat who plans to vote again for Obama. "When you engage people one by one, some people certainly seem into it. I'm amazed at the people I'm still finding that aren't registered to vote and we can't get them to do it."

Lopez said he knows more than one voter who supported Obama in 2008 who is turning to Romney this time.

On an island known for taking a sharp left in the political arena, Rossi laughed when asked what it's like being a Republican Romney supporter in all the tropical islands, in all the towns, in all the world.

"There's a few of us," said Rossi. "I'm proud to say I'm for Romney. I believe in a balanced budget and a strong economy. We could win for sure. "

gfilosa@keysnews.com