Biden's focus on McCain dismissed Palin as the distraction that she is...

[Barack_America]

And he did it without appearing to dismiss her.

That was very cleverly done, IMO, and might help explain Biden's strong performance among uncommitted voters.

Just a thought.

[dana_b]

1. good pick up

he wasn't mentioning her policies and past, it was HIS

[BuyingThyme]

2. Yes, he made that clear right out of the box.

[Kerrytravelers]

3. I think this is a very smart point. Well expressed. I hadn't thought of uncommitteds responding to

that, but I do think you are correct. It will be interesting to hear over the next couple of days what drew them to Biden... well I know what it should be (knowledge, intellect, etc.) but I'll be curious to hear their reasonings.

[Barack_America]

5. Thanks.

I will be interested to hear their reasonings too. Who knows, maybe they just hated her snarky tone and accent?

[kwolf68]

4. When you're winnig all the impt races

You merely have to hold serve. Tonight could have been a major clusterfuck.

Even had Palin gone out there and set herself on fire and begun speaking in tongues from her crotch 25% of the voters love her.

We merely needed to keep the % where they are...I believe we get a small kick up.

Had Biden gone for the knockout, he could have added 10 points to our side, but it coulda also backfired under charges of sexism and Joe 'being mean' bla bla...putting us back into a dead heat to where McCain rolls out a Bin Ladne impersonator, who he then has an exorcism performed on him and 'is saved' which could have turned the election.

Joe Biden did great...i thought after the first 20 minutes it was even...I thought Joe killed her from then on out. She ran out of clever and unique things to say and Joe Biden...well...hhmmm, he knew what the fuck he was talking about.

[BelgianMadCow]

6. He looked at her and talked straight through her

she was nothing but air.

Good call!