For the lone vice presidential debate that took place right here in St. Louis, all eyes were on Sarah Palin and how she would fare against the veteran Senator Joe Biden. Palin was well rehearsed after a series of embarrassing interview flops as she attempted to prove qualified to become second in command for the United States.
Polls on CBS and CNN give Biden the victory in the 90-minute debate that focused on taxes, energy policy and the Iraq war.
Palin attempted to reestablish herself as a reformer and Biden tried to undercut the maverick image of GOP presidential hopeful John McCain.
“For a ticket that wants to talk about change and looking into the future, there’s just too much finger-pointing backwards to ever make us believe that that’s where you’re going,” Palin said, saying she and McCain were the real change agents in the race.
Palin sidestepped certain questions, at times sneaking back to talking points and generalities.
Asked by moderator Gwen Ifill if she would support legislation allowing debt-strapped mortgage holders to file for bankruptcy to get out from under that debt, Palin said yes but avoided details, quickly steering the focus back to a more general discussion of the “toxic mess” in the financial industry.
And asked how she as vice president would help reduce partisanship in Washington, she said, “Let’s commit ourselves just every day American people, Joe Six Pack, hockey moms across the nation, I think we need to band together and say never again.”
Biden, for his part, largely avoided direct challenges to Palin and instead worked to undermine McCain, who has sought throughout the campaign to distance himself from the unpopular Bush.
The Delaware senator repeatedly noted that McCain had sided with Bush on crucial issues, from launching the war in Iraq to tax policies that widened the income disparity between rich and poor.
“He’s been a maverick on some issues, but he has been no maverick on the things that matter to people’s lives,” Biden said of McCain, noting that the Arizona senator had voted for Bush’s budget proposals and against legislation providing heating oil assistance to low income families and enrolling more children in government-sponsored health insurance.
“He’s not been a maverick on virtually anything that genuinely affects the things that people really talk about around their kitchen table,” Biden said.
The candidates exchanged blows on energy. Palin criticized the Democratic ticket for opposing offshore oil drilling while Biden chided McCain for voting against proposals in the Senate to expand the development of alternative energy sources.
“He’s not been a maverick on virtually anything that genuinely affects the things that people really talk about around their kitchen table,” Biden said.
The candidates traded jabs on energy. Palin criticized the Democratic ticket for opposing offshore oil drilling while Biden chided McCain for voting against proposals in the Senate to expand the development of alternative energy sources.
On taxes, Biden reaffirmed his position that it was “patriotic” for people who earn more than $250,000 to pay additional taxes. Obama’s tax plan would cut taxes for about 90 percent of Americans, Biden said.
When Palin called his position a “redistribution of wealth principle,” Biden shot back, observing that McCain wanted to reduce taxes on businesses and the very rich.
“We don’t call a redistribution in my neighborhood Scranton, Claymont, Wilmington, the places I grew up … to say that not giving ExxonMobil another $4 billion tax cut this year as John calls for and giving it to middle class people to be able to pay to get their kids to college. We call that fairness,” Biden said.
Biden defended Obama’s vote in May 2007 not to fund military operations in Iraq unless a timeline was set for withdrawal, even though Biden sharply criticized the Illinois senator’s vote at the time. And Biden tried to turn the table on McCain, questioning his judgment on the Iraq conflict from the beginning.
“John McCain was saying the Sunnis and Shias got along with each other without reading the history of the last 700 years. John McCain said there would be enough oil to pay for this. John McCain has been dead wrong,” Biden said, adding, “As my mother would say, God love him.”
Palin smiled at the camera, winked at the audience, even giving a quick plug to her brother’s third-grade class at Gladys Wood Elementary School. She called herself a “Washington outsider” who was “not used to the way you guys operate,” making it clear she saw that as a positive thing.
Biden was more serious, focused on policy questions he repeatedly referred to as “fundamental.” Toward the end of the debate, his voice caught with emotion as he referred to his time as a single parent after his wife and daughter had been killed in a car accident. “The notion that, somehow, because I’m a man I don’t know what it’s like to raise two kids alone” is wrong, he said. He cited his hometown roots in Scranton, Pa., and Wilmington, Del., saying he had spent “a lot of time” at Home Depot.
Information from the Associated Press and USA Today contributed to this report.
