Vice Presidential Debate: And the Winner Is....It's a Draw.

The first and only Vice Presidential debate lacked the fire anticipated. Here are some footnotes from the debate:

1. Gov. Palin used the "say what I know approach." Despite what the question was, she provided rehearsed responses that actually benefited. Palin played to her strengths rather than allowing herself to freelance on responses; a move that Republican strategies applauded.

2. Senator Biden started off slow; seeming indifferent about how to debate Gov. Palin. As the debate continued, he challenged her on issues (i.e., Economy, Education, War in Iraq). To her credit, Palin was not intimidated by Biden and made explicit references to Obama. For example, when discussing whether to meet with foreign leaders, she stated, "A statement that he made like that is downright dangerous because leaders like [Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad, who would seek to acquire nuclear weapons and wipe off the face of the earth an ally like we have in Israel should not be met with without preconditions and diplomatic efforts being undertaken first."

3. Gov. Palin overused/stated the term "Maverick". What is a Maverick? Biden challenged the Maverick claim saying that "he (Senator McCain) has been no maverick on the issues that matter to people lives."

She indicated "we are Mavericks, we will never agree on everything." But are we not to assume that the President and Vice-President should be on the same page the majority of the time.

4. Gov. Palin painted herself as an "ordinary citizen." An approach that will serve the McCain-Palin ticket.

5. Is either ready to serve as Vice-President? In retrospect, Gov. Palin was impressive when you consider the odds against her; many were expecting her to fail miserably on the "big stage." Biden was status quo, pointing out important information such as McCain's non-support of funding education (NCLB), efforts to continue the War in Iraq, and his similarity to the Bush Administration. That prompted Palin to state, "But for a ticket that wants to talk about change and looking into the future, there's too much finger-pointing backwards to ever make us believe that's where you're going."

Overall, the debate attempted to prove that Gov. Palin was worthy of her assignment to the ticket, while Biden further validated his credentials.