Biden vs. Palin: Style and Substance in St. Louis

To everyone's relief, tonight's Vice Presidential debate in St. Louis between Senator Joe Biden of Delaware and Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska wasn't the train wreck it could have been. Both of them did rather well.

Biden, Barack Obama's #2, did not make any outrageous statements, nor did he act in a condescending manner towards Palin. John McCain's running mate came across less like the head of a state than as the candidate from Lake Wobegon, but at the same time shed her Floyd R. Turbo persona, a deer-in-the-headlights character Johnny Carson once did on The Tonight Show.

At times, it was Palin who blew Biden off the screen, talking directly to the TV audience instead of to moderator Gwen Ifill of PBS. She even ignored some of Ifill's questions, as if to say, "I don't have to talk to you, you smug, inside-the-beltway know-it-all who wrote a book about my opponent." Now who's the condescending one?

As for the substance of the debate, Biden kept hammering away at McCain's being in lockstep with President Bush on many issues. Palin recited many of the Republican talking points, injecting Reaganisms such as "shining city on a hill" and "there you go again", and Bushisms such as "nucular" whenever possible. Other than that, she stuck to what she knew, steering the conversation over to her experience as a reform-minded mayor and governor.

On international affairs, Biden seemed more comfortable talking about what he and Obama would do to get troops out of Iraq, and to improve relations with countries that McCain and Bush alienated. Palin resorted to accusing Biden and the Democrats of surrendering when victory in Iraq is close at hand, believing in the fiction that they are the central front in the Bush War on Terror.

Call it a draw, folks. Biden won on substance. Palin won on style. As for how this affects the polls, in which Obama now leads by as many as ten points over McCain in key states, the numbers won't change much until after the next presidential debate on Tuesday.

Now that their one and only debate is finished, Biden can go back to stumping for Obama. Palin can go back to the protective cocoon the McCain campaign has been keeping her in for weeks, at least until after the election.