Palin Biden Vice Presidential Debate channel
U.S. vice-presidential nominees Sen. Joseph Biden and Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska square off tonight (9 PM Eastern Time) in their only scheduled debate of the campaign for the White House. What do the candidates need to do during the VP debate? What mistakes must they avoid? What should the astute observer look for?
It may be that for both Palin and Biden, the best thing to do during the vice presidential debate is as little as possible. If I were advising either one of the candidates, my advice would be to forget about trying to win. Losing this debate by being cautious will be far less costly to either one of the campaigns than committing a memorable, quotable, sound bite-able blunder. It’s much better for them to be conservative and take a few hits than to be drawn into a vulnerable position.
Some of the talking heads and consultants on TV may say that both candidates have to play to win the VP debate, that they have to prove they could be president if called upon, but I disagree. The news cycle just won’t let this debate live long enough to matter much (again, unless one or both of the candidates commits a huge blunder). On Friday, the U.S. House of Representatives will vote on a controversial Wall Street bailout bill (now stuffed full of pork-barrel goodies by the Senate), and Friday also will bring a new batch of unemployment numbers. This all adds up to the fact that unless something spectacular comes out of tonight’s debate, the news media will be on to the next topic in just a few days, if not sooner.
via huliq
