debugging c++ extensions to python

trying to debug a python extension module written in c++ (wrapped with swig). i think this would be so much easier if i were using gcc, but python is built with msvc... setup.py wants the debug versions of python libs, but i don't have them and don't really want to try to build python from scratch right now. these refs seem relevant: http://www.velocityreviews.com/forums/t677466-please-include-python26_d-lib-in-the-installer.html http://vtk.org/gitweb?p=VTK.git;a=blob;f=Wrapping/Python/vtkPython.h;h=9d01ac21bafae0a24252398f268b6b3563df62cd