Report: Sarah Palin Debate Advisers Predicted 'Debacle of Epic Proportions'

An adviser to John McCain who was preparing Sarah Palin for the vice presidential debate became so worried at Palin's weak performance in mock debates that he placed a panicked phone call to Steve Schmidt, the McCain campaign manager.

"He told us the debate was going to be a debacle of historic and epic proportions...she was not focused...not engaged," Schmidt says in an interview.

Specifically, "Palin had a reflexive tendency to refer to Biden as "O'Biden," says Schmidt, a tick that he said had to be corrected before the internationally televised debate in October 2008. The fix: "It was multiple people -- and I wasn't one of them-- who all said at the same time, 'Just say, Can I call you Joe?' Which she did."

Schmidt says Palin "more than held her own" in the debate, and never called Joe Biden "O'Biden." He also says that Palin strengthened the ticket, which, in his view, would have performed worse without her.
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Schmidt recounts the story to Anderson Cooper in an interview for this Sunday's "60 Minutes" on CBS, which includes political reporters Mark Halperin and John Heilemann discussing the 2008 presidential campaigns.

Heilemann and Halperin will also talk about their new book, "Game Change," which they wrote after interviewing more than 200 people involved the historic elections, including many directly involved in the McCain campaign.

The authors and Schmidt reveal other new campaign details, including that John McCain had decided to choose Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) as his running mate, but reversed course days before the Republican convention because of "blowback" from the Republican ranks.