Biden is the Winner, Palin Survives

In the immediate afterglow of this Vice Presidential debate, my immediate impression is that, as spectacle, this was a huge disappointment. Either candidate, or both, could have blown it in spectacular fashion, in any number of ways.

Having said that, I think that this works in Biden's favor, politically. He stood to lose a lot more had Palin scored big against him, or had he humiliated her.

Expectations for Palin were so low that, short of drunkenly giving the audience the finger and passing out, she had nowhere to go but up.

Palin employed the Phil Spector "Wall of Sound" technique to avoid questions, and even declared at one point that she would freely continue not answering the questions that were asked of her. Gwen Iffil seemed satisfied with the declaration, perhaps a further example of the right "working the ref" over Iffil's book.

In doing so, Palin surrendered any hope of winning the debate on the substance, but that was never the point. She did, however, miss crucial opportunities to shore up her likeability. Her constant winking and "Aw, shucks!" vamping played poorly with the women in CNN's focus group, as did her ham-fisted playing of the "juvenile sports team mom" card. Her assertion that soccer moms are on the sidelines discussing their investment portfolios was particularly tone deaf.

Her strongest moment, I thought, was in defending her differences of opinion with John McCain.

Biden's performance was pitch-perfect, and he wisely kept the focus on the middle class, something Barack Obama should have done a better job of last Friday.

The flashpoint moment of the debate, I believe, will be Joe Biden talking about being a single father. I found it to be a poignant moment, but I think that moment will be talked about from both sides, through different prisms.

In the short term, Palin's failure to implode will be seen as a victory for her, but in the long run, the missed opportunities and inevitable fact-checking will undo that perception.

Tommy Christopher co-hosts "Unusable Signal" , on BlogTalkRadio Tues & Thur at 9pm, and Wed, Fri, & Sat at 11pm. Click here for the Unusable Signal homepage.

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