Well the great(?) debate is almost over.

Sarah has stuck with her talking points and from what I have heard, has has not embarassed herself. If she has a problem, it is that she does not have too many talking points but she is smart enough to stick with them. Any mention of the Bush record is pretty much met with the equivalent of "Why do we have to focus on the past?" Certainly she learned a lot from the Couric interview. I guess I'm holding being perky and cute against her. I know it isn't fair, but I've never liked cute and perky.
As far as Biden goes, well I'm kind of disappointed that he isn't running for president. Knows his stuff cold and presents it well and understandably. IMO he is that good and that knowledgable.
Sarah's a nice person, but the differences between the two are night and day.

Biden won, IMO.....

I got the impression that biden really did not need to prepare.....Palin on the other hand....she does not seem very confident, and had some serious cramming going on beforehand....

It can be said that, like Saddam after the first Gulf War, she can claim to have "won" by merely surviving.

KMM

jeff glancy said:

Sarah has stuck with her talking points and from what I have heard, has has not embarassed herself. If she has a problem, it is that she does not have too many talking points but she is smart enough to stick with them. Any mention of the Bush record is pretty much met with the equivalent of "Why do we have to focus on the past?" Certainly she learned a lot from the Couric interview. I guess I'm holding being perky and cute against her. I know it isn't fair, but I've never liked cute and perky.
As far as Biden goes, well I'm kind of disappointed that he isn't running for president. Knows his stuff cold and presents it well and understandably. IMO he is that good and that knowledgable.
Sarah's a nice person, but the differences between the two are night and day.

According to Ifill's opening statement, neither of the campaigns had advance notice of what the questions would be.
Ifill:

"The specific subjects and questions were chosen by me and have not been shared or cleared with anyone on the campaigns or on the commission.."

Transcript at

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/02/debate.transcript/

Examination of some of the candidate's claims at:

Check Point: The Vice-Presidential Debate By The New York Times

The Times’s Peter Baker, Kitty Bennett, Julie Bosman, John Broder, Michael Luo, Larry Rohter and William Yardley are examining the policies and statements of Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Gov. Sarah Palin in real time tonight. For more on the candidates and the issues, see The Times’s Election Guide.

At http://tinyurl.com/43zvr6

OR

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/02/check-point-the-vice-presidential-debate/?ref=politics

Chris Myers said:

Someday it would be nice to see a debate where the candidates didn't get the questions and topics weeks in advance. I'd also like to see a wider range of questions.