Just as Joe Biden Won the Debate

Gwen Ifill: Good evening. I'm Gwen Ifill. Welcome to Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri for the first and only 2008 Vice Presidential debate between the Republican nominee Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska and the Democratic nominee Joe Biden of Delaware. Let's welcome the candidates. …

Now, tonight's discussion will cover a wide range of topics, including domestic and foreign policy matters. Each candidate will have ninety seconds to respond to a direct question and an additional 2 minutes for rebuttal and follow up.

As moderator, I will not ask any follow-up questions beyond “Do you agree?” or “Your response?” so as not to appear biased for Barack Obama in light of my new book The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama, coming out on Inauguration Day and available for pre-order on Amazon.com.

And finally, we would like to remind our audience that due to the historically low expectations for Gov. Palin, were she simply to do an adequate job tonight and at no point cry, faint, run out of the building, or vomit, you should consider the debate a tie.


Tina Fey does a great job as Palin, no question, but Jason Sudeikis as Biden steals the show.