Certainly, Sarah Palin exceed expectations, but she could not overcome Sen. Joe Biden command of the issues, and in a surprising development, his strong and focused articulation of the argument against the McCain/Palin ticket.
As I wrote the other day, I worried that Biden could have appeared condescending or make one of his famous gaffes. He did neither. In fact, he gave as strong a debate performance as I've ever seen, not just from him, but from any presidential or vice presidential candidate in a long time.
The adrenalin was evident in both candidates from the beginning. They spoke too quickly, a problem, Biden eventually overcame, while Palin did not.
The goal of any debate candidate should be to make a few key points clearly and forcefully. That's more difficult to do when you rush through your narrative. To do that, you need to slow down, especially when you get to those key points. Biden finally slowed down and employed another key tactic: he repeated himself. "let me say that again," he said. That drives home the point. Palin, meanwhile, had a harder time, slowing down. She seemed to be getting through her points as quickly as she could and then, to her credit, not digging herself a hole as she did in recent interviews.
In fact, she came out a little stronger than he did on looking confident. But as the debate went on, she seemed to lose a bit of that confidence. And I'm sure most viewers caught and reacted negatively to her statement that she wasn't necessarily going to answer the questions asked. It was a clear signal that "I'm not going to talk about anything I don't understand."
And I think clearly Gwen Ifill was reticent to call her on it. The only time she noted that an answer wasn't given was when she thought both candidates fell short. It proves that the GOP is much more effective in working the refs. Mostly, because Dems refuse to do it. Obama, for example, took the bait to be interviewed by Bill O'Reilly a few weeks ago, while I am sure that Palin will not come on an MSNBC show this campaign. Dems won't call her out and I'm not sure that the MSNBC hosts will do it either.
The only stumbles Biden had was when using numbers to attack McCain's health care plan. Numbers are tricky in a debate. You need to keep them to a few, slow down and repeat them to make your point. His "bridge to nowhere" comment was the only zinger of the night.
I was disappointed that he didn't attack her hypocrisy on pork barrel projects, especially the Bridge to Nowhere. A mere mention was all that was needed. Also, he missed an opportunity when she talked about her bipartisan approach. He could have pointed out that she had a history of firing people she didn't agree with and made the parallel to McCain's' tendency to demonize his opponents. It would have been a good time to mention McCain's negative and dishonest ads. I wish he had addressed her more often, rather than addressing "Gwen."
As the debate wore on, Palin wore out. She started to ramble as she did with her Pakistan/Iran comparison. Talking too fast exacerbated the problem. People were left shaking their heads, "What did she say?"
CNN used their "meter" where voters in a focus group they convened could respond positively or negatively in real time, as the candidates were speaking. When Biden called for the end of the Iraq War, he got very positive feedback, even from men. When she then talked about vicotry, the meters went in the other direction.
Biden also got the last word on a couple questions. He worked the clock well.
The instant poll suggests Biden was the clear winner, especially among independents and uncommitted voters. But a CNN poll said she came off as more likable. That surprises only in that I din't think Biden did anything to hurt his likability quotient.
And I loved his talking about losing his wife and duaghter. It was a real moment that will certainly served him, and perhaps Obama, with women voters.
Finally, my wife, as I'm sure many other did, groaned when he said McCain was "a good man." Obama was criticized for saying "John was right" too often. But given the feedback Obama got on the debate and with McCain's seeming to ignore him, I beginning to think that it's a good strategy. It says to the voter, "I'm gong to be fair and civil." The elctorate is craving that.