Thursday night’s debate featured much of what both presidential campaigns had promised, as Senator Joe Biden touted his experience tied with Obama’s vision, and Sarah Palin attempted to appeal to mainstream America.

In what was widely considered to be a referendum on Senator John McCain’s choice for vice president, Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska, while at times hesitant and often vague in her responses to weighted policy questions, exceeded the low expectations that had been set for her.

Biden, as in previous debates during the presidential primary season, appeared calm and definitive, choosing to make most of his comments directly toward the camera, as if to talk straight to the American people.

Both candidates assumed the roles that their campaigns had promised. Palin, speaking in plain language about issues ranging from the current financial crisis to the war in Iraq to nuclear proliferation, sought to relate every topic to the country’s middle class, of which she repeatedly said she was a part.

Commenting on the current problems on Wall Street, Palin spoke in broad terms.
“We have the opportunity to learn a heck of a lot of lessons out of this and say never again will we be taken advantage of,” Palin said.

Later, Palin struck the same chord regarding the source of the mortgage crisis, saying, “Darn right it was the predator lenders. There was deception and corruption.”

Biden answered his questions with detailed policy prescriptions in an effort to emphasize his knowledge about each issue, and often lashed out at the record of John McCain.
On the economy, Biden attempted at once to paint the differences between the two candidates and to highlight his own credentials.

“So what you had is you had overwhelming ‘deregulation,’” Biden said of the recent financial crisis. “You had actually the belief that Wall Street could self-regulate itself. And while Barack Obama was talking about reinstating those regulations, John on 20 different occasions in the previous year and a half called for more deregulation.”

While both candidates played the roles that fit their strengths, their distinct styles indicated the clear differences in background and philosophy.

“We cannot slow up on education, because that’s the engine that is going to give us the economic growth and competitiveness that we need,” Biden said when proposing solutions to the current economic slowdown.

“Energy independence is the key to this nation’s future, to our economic future, and to our national security,” Palin said. “So when we talk about energy plans, it’s not just about who got a tax break and who didn’t. And we’re not giving oil companies tax breaks, but it’s about a heck of a lot more than that.”

At several points during the debate, when Palin appeared hesitant on an issue, she pivoted to the topic with which she has dealt most intimately: energy.

When challenged to refute a claim that Biden made about McCain’s comments toward the mortgage market, Palin responded: “That is not so, but because that’s just a quick answer, I want to talk about, again, my record on energy versus your ticket’s energy ticket, also.”
Following the debate, surrogates for each campaign thought the debate brought out each candidate’s greatest qualities.

“She understood where the country would go, and she had a personable nature,” Lindsay Graham, Senator from South Carolina, said of Palin’s performance. “She related to people at a level that you don’t see in Washington.”

Some Democrats, following the debate, focused on Palin’s scant responses to the environment.

“As Joe Biden pointed out very effectively, you can’t fix the problem unless you point out the source of the problem,” Susan Rice, a foreign policy expert and advisor to Obama, said. “That’s a grave concern, one you would expect she would well understand.”