Last night was the much hyped debate between Republican Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin and her Democratic opponent, Joe Biden.  Naturally those in the mainstream media and the far left were hoping to see a Palin train wreck but it never happened and indeed, I believe Palin handled herself extraordinarily well.  Palin used her very effective “taking it straight to the people” talk and it served her well.  You could feel a connection with her.  As for Biden, I have honestly never seen him speak at length until last night, but I think he did quite well too.  His performance certainly helped show he can speak to Main Street nearly as effectively as Palin.   

The result IMHO?  I think if looked at objectively it was a draw overall.  One would think that the Washington insider Biden would be able to knock off a newcomer to the national scene pretty easily but that was not the case at all.  Palin proved to be very resilient, familiar with the key issues, and was able to portray herself as an “outside the beltway” reformer able to bring change to D.C.  I think both did their parties a favor and while they certainly helped shore up their core supporters who were going to vote for them anyway, I don’t know that either did enough to sway the crucial swing voters.  

I was happy to see that it seemed like McCain’s people finally took the chains off of Palin and let her be herself.  It was about a month late coming and I just hope it wasn’t too late.  They need to get her out there taking interviews with local news folks at campaign stops, talking to the press gaggle that follows her and yes, she needs to talk to the mainstream media.  Will the MSM do their best to trip her up?  Of course but in the end I believe she will handle herself well and do more to help the ticket.   

All eyes now look to next Tuesday when McCain and Obama face off.  My fervent hope is that McCain takes the kid gloves off for once and stops playing nice.