In our watch group there was a sense of relief in seeing the kid who’d never made it around the bases actually get all the way around. Good for you. We didn’t have to cover our eyes when she stopped to examine a knee scab at second, and pull up her socks at third. The other kid, of course, hit the ball hard, ran hard and got an inside the park home run. A skilled, experienced natural.

The dial twisters on CNN generally gave Biden high marks, especially when the topic was the war. The snap polls have generally given the advantage to Biden.

CBS NEWS/KNOWLEDGE NETWORKS POLL
(Uncommitted Voters who watched the debate)

46% of uncommitted voters who watched the debate tonight thought Joe Biden was the winner (that’s better than the undecideds gave Obama after the first debate with McCain). 21% thought Sarah Palin won, 33% thought it was a draw. Before the debate, 79% thought Biden was “knowledgeable,” after the debate 98% had that opinion.

CNN

“Fifty-one percent of those polled thought Biden did the best job in Thursday night’s debate, while 36 percent thought Palin did the best job.

But respondents said the folksy Palin was more likable, scoring 54 percent to Biden’s 36 percent.

Watch: ‘We will fight for America,’ Palin says

Both candidates exceeded expectations — 84 percent of the people polled said Palin did a better job than they expected, while 64 percent said Biden also exceeded expectations.

But on the question of the candidates’ qualifications to assume the presidency, 87 percent of the people polled said Biden is qualified while only 42 percent said Palin is qualified.”

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Former Bush officials say Joe hammered it.

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I was very impressed with Biden’s choking on emotion when he talked about his sons after the death of his wife and daughter. I wasn’t alone.

“Joe Biden did more for the equality of the sexes with his honest display of paternal emotion during the vice presidential debate than Sarah Palin’s presence on the executive ticket has or will ever do.”

Joe’s Tears

This moment, when Joe Biden talked about being a single parent unsure whether his sons would make it after his wife and daughter were tragically killed in a car accident?

Most real thing I’ve seen in politics in a long, long time.

Big Heart

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Wrapup – I’ll be honest: I genuinely didn’t understand about 50% of what Sarah Palin said. She pretty overtly didn’t even pretend to address a lot of Ifill’s questions — probably because she couldn’t — and a lot of her filibustering ended up sounding like random strings of phrases from the Hockey-Mom-o-Bot 3000.

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Biden’s authority is beginning to pierce the rat-a-tat-tat of Palin’s Bush-style soundbites. The debate feels like a replay of the last five weeks. You begin by being dazzled by the style of this chipper little cheer-leader. But as time goes by, you wonder if there’s any wisdom behind the blather.

Andrew Sullivan

Generally, the scariest Palin moment was her ignorance of the Constitutional authority of the office of Vice President –and her suggestion that the VP should be given more power.

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