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I thought it was an interesting debate. It lived up to my expectations.
The smartest thing Biden did was attack McCain instead of Palin. The most dangerous thing he could have done for Obama's sake was get into a verbal confrontation with Palin and allow her and McCain by association to win sympathy points. In the last 30 or so years, Democrats have trailed far behind Republicans in as far as seeing the big picture and understand what the repercussions would be for different tactics. But finally it seems like they figured it out this time around.
Biden used his experience to come across as much more prepared if he were to ascend to the presidency. I don't think anyone can deny that fact. However, I think he made a few mistakes along the way where he lost focus and started making this about himself instead of the Obama/Biden ticket. He obviously has a big ego and it is difficult for him to always keep things about the ticket instead of about himself. I also thought he got lulled into Palin's subject changing game and he'd be led off track by her ramblings and then he'd start rambling himself. The difference is when the two ramble is she still keeps you somewhat engaged, while he puts you to sleep.
I was expecting Palin to fall flat on her face at least a couple times but I thought she actually stayed upright most of the time. Her avoidance of questions was laughable at times and I'm sure some of her answers are going to be torn to pieces once the "fact checkers" get a hold of the transcript. That said, I thought she was better than Biden in terms of realizing she is running with McCain and not just herself. In the middle of the debate, she had a good stretch where she had Biden struggling for words. Biden won the beginning and end of the debate but I thought Palin won a section there in the middle ... which is something I didn't think should could do.
Using no expectations, Biden had to be the technical winner of the debate. But accounting for expectations, I thought Palin held her own. Most will criticize her for changing the topics and twisting the issues to talk about what she wanted to talk about, but that is a debate strategy that has been used as long as there have been debates. While it's probably true she'd do it because she didn't know the answers to the questions, her resume makes it obvious that she isn't going to know enough to out politic Biden. That just wasn't going to happen.
If I had to guess, I'd say the results of the debate will either be neutral or a very slight bump for McCain. I find it hard to believe Biden won many votes, however his goal should have been to just not lose any votes and he very well could have done that.
