Anchorage Daily News

McCain got his money's worth out of Sarah Palin's debate performance. She probably did about as well as she could given her experience and background. The architecture of the event helped her. Unlike the Couric-Gibson interviews, which were open-ended, the debate was highly structured and she used the structure as a road map. If she didn't know the questions that were coming, she knew she would have two minutes for an answer, two minutes for a comment, etc.

Also, in the interviews she was alone with the interviewer, unlike the debate where she was from time to time off camera while Joe Biden spoke.

The governor didn't answer questions when she didn't want to, a technique she honed in Alaska gubernatorial debates. That probably helped, when not totally obvious, although sometimes she avoided questions by falling back on McCain (as expected). John believes this, John believes that. (A friend pointed out to me that she said "maverick" so many times you expected James Garner to enter stage left with a deck of cards).

Once again, she showed direct attack is not natural to her. She seemed forced when attacking Joe Biden and had no comeback when he responded to her occasional sallies. The folksy explanation of the Wall Street crisis -- the moms with money in the market -- didn't work. It was another of her attempts at affinity politics -- look, I am just like you, struggling with the same things as you. Affinity politics is her strength but this time the context was all wrong. The stakes are just too big to say, "Hey I am just like you."

Biden can play the affinity politics game too. The story about Joey, the fella he met at the gas pump, is an example. But anecdotes are just another tool in his tool box.

Sarah Palin has had great success exploiting contrast -- the contrast between her and Murkowski, her and Knowles and so forth. All politicians try to do this. But last night the contrast was all in Biden's favor. JB was just so fluent and in command -- clearly ready to do the job in Washington whether you like his party affiliation or not.

In the end, Biden was who he is: A veteran senator with a long resume of experience. In the end, Palin was who she is too -- a provincial governor who works hard and has an engaging personality but has limited knowledge of the world.

Finally, I found Palin's voice at times chirpy and her effect -- the smiles and pulling faces -- unsettling. You want to be relaxed but not out of sync with the import of the moment.

-- Michael Carey

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