I’m with most of the country on this one. I’d say it was pretty much a split in the vice-presidential debate last night. Joe Biden won on substance, Sarah Palin won on style. If pressed, I might say Biden edged it 51/49, but like the first Obama/McCain debate, there was certainly no knockout on either side. It’s ‘as you were’ once again, with no fundamental changes likely in the fallout. Folks will be sticking to the candidate they’ve already chosen, and any moderates who have yet to make up their mind probably still won’t be able to come to a decision.

I was both disappointed and somewhat pleased with the debate last night. Pleased because, surprisingly, it was actually a good debate. Governor Palin did better than expected and came across as quite charismatic, while Senator Biden came across as very knowledgeable on a number of subjects, from Pakistan to the exact role of a Vice-President (which should be a given for a nominee, don’t you think?). On the other hand, I say I’m disappointed because, deep down inside I wanted Palin to do her stuttering, mumbling, lost in the woods routine and Biden to make some inadvertent yet horribly offensive racist or sexist remark. You know, just to spice things up a bit and make the folks on both sides of the aisle miserable. There’s no news like bad news! A-ha ha ha! What a bastard I am. Unfortunately for the darker side of me, both candidates were on their game.

Easily the worst part of the debate was Gwen Ifill as moderator. While she did defy a few critics by providing equal time and temperment to each candidate, she provided absolutely no follow-up to any questions, nor did she press either candidate for an answer when they ducked or dodged a direct question (which Sarah Palin did more of, but Biden had a couple of moments too). Basically, she just allowed each candidate to veer off into their own pre-prepared speeches instead of coralling them into phrasing their answers in the form of an answer. A task that is damn near impossible for a politician unless pushed a little bit. I’m thinking Bob Schieffer will do a much better job as questionmaster on the October 15th presidential debate.