Though Senator Biden rarely pressed the governor or disagreed specifically with what she said, when he did, the governor seemed to lose out in the ensuing conversations.
Talking about the plan needed for success in Afghanistan, Senator Biden said that General McKiernan -- the commanding general on the ground in Afghanistan -- yesterday said that John McCain's calls for 'Iraq surge principals' to be used in Afghanistan would not work.
In response, Governor Palin, botching General McKiernan's name, said: "Well, first, McClellan did not say definitively the surge principles would not work in Afghanistan. Certainly, accounting for different conditions in that different country and conditions are certainly different."
If she struggled but held her own on foreign policy, she also effectively conveyed her domestic message with tried and true populism, speaking about "American exceptionalism" and the superiority of the American workey. She also attempted to frame her opponents as elitists, similarly bashing the 'mainstream media' and other "East Coast politicians", for failing to respond to the climate of Middle America.
This perceived slight of Senator Biden's link to the middle class drew the night's testiest response: "Look, I understand what it's like to be a single parent. When my wife and daughter died and my two sons were gravely injured, I understand what it's like as a parent to wonder what it's like if your kid's going to make it. I understand what it's like to sit around the kitchen table with a father who says, 'I've got to leave, champ, because there's no jobs here. I got to head down to Wilmington. And when we get enough money, honey, we'll bring you down.' I understand what it's like."
Photograph: Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images
Also read: Who won the debate?
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