Palin-Biden: First Take

Averaging expectations, style and points, it was a wash.  Partisans have reason to be satisfied; I honestly have no idea how undecided voters will react (although CBS's panel of them gave Biden an edge.) 

But the topline here is that, when it comes to worrying about Palin, the McCain campaign can now exhale ... (one GOPer e-mailed: "We live to fight another day.") ....and though, on paper, Palin said some weird things in weird ways (expanding the power of the vice presidency??) , she did nothing negatively indelibly memorable, and, at times, was positively impressive.  She'll rev up partisan enthusiasm, and that's an accomplishment in and of itself. She was most effective when she argued against Barack Obama; mildly effective when she argued for John McCain's policies, and not terribly effective when it came to justifying why she was qualified to be vice presidentl of the United States. 

But -- the McCain campaign will be able to claim, reasonably enough, that since Gov. Palin came off as decently well-informed, that she did not, she beat expectations and therefore she "won."  They might also claim - and the plausibility of this depends on the preconceptions of the viewer - that she "connected" with average Americans; that where Biden was sometimes blustery, she showed clear convictions, that she was knowledgeable, and plainspoken.   

It seemed as if Palin was more formidable on foreign policy than she was on domestic policy - her answer on climate change made no discernible sense --, interestingly enough, and seemed more comfortable when describing Barack Obama's plans and less so when describing the current conditions of the economy. 

To practiced ears, Palin memorized and repeated talking points and Biden responded to the questions and argued.  Palin dodged questions and seemed vague; but then again, for those whose only impression of Palin has been the one Tina Fay performed on Saturday Night Live, she cleared the bar. Biden seemed a little unsure how tough to be at the beginning of the debate; by the beginning of the final third, he hit his stride.  As the debate wound on, Palin seemed less agile when it came to constructing sentences and answers. Lots of key phrases, weird placement of conjunctions, so the gist of what she was saying was there, but it wasn't terribly clear.