VP Debate: Palin Acquits Herself Well

Ms. Palin, the governor of Alaska and the Republican vice-presidential nominee, clearly went into Friday’s debate against the Democratic Senator Biden with a game plan, and she carried it off. Over and over, she pitched her message to the middle class in a folksy way, throwing in a few winks for good measure.

The way to judge the economy “is go to a kid’s soccer game on Saturday and turn to any parent there on the sideline and ask them, ‘How are you feeling about the economy?’ ” Palin said in her opening remarks, her trademark “Fargo” accent in full timbre. “And I’ll betcha, you’re going to hear some fear in that parent’s voice, fear regarding the few investments that some of us have in the stock market.”

But there’s bad news for Palin: Her better-than-expected performance probably won’t do much for a McCain campaign that is on the ropes. Just before the debate, news broke that Republican nominee John McCain was ending his effort to win Michigan – a key Midwestern battleground the campaign had long held in its sights.

At the very least, though, Palin’s confident performance should quiet critics who had found her interviews with Ms. Couric embarrassing. “I think she reassured some conservatives,” says Bruce Buchanan, a political scientist at the University of Texas at Austin.

via Christian Science Montor: Palin rebounds in debate – but is it too late?