There was no disastrous gaffe but Sarah Palin's showing in yesterday's debate with Democrat Joe Biden appeared to do little to transform a race which polls suggest is slipping away from her Republican running mate John McCain.
Mrs Palin the 44-year-old United States vice-presidential nominee defied her critics with an aggressive, folksy performance, as she winked at the cameras and peppered her answers with ''darn right'', ''you betcha'' and ''heck''. Americans weren't just people, they were ''Joe Six-Pack'' and ''Hockey mums''. And who needs polls, she suggested, when there are youth soccer games with parents on the sidelines?
''I'll betcha you're going to hear some fear in that parent's voice,'' Mrs Palin said, as she tried to paint a picture of the impact the financial crisis is having on ordinary Americans.
She branded Barack Obama ''dangerous'' in a string of attacks on the Democratic presidential nominee, but failed to land a telling blow.
While both vice-presidential candidates achieved their goals in the prime-time debate, the stakes were much higher and the bar much lower for Mrs Palin. So, in the contest of low expectations, she may as well have won.
Snap polls, however, suggested Senator Biden was the victor.
CNN's sampling said he took the clash by 51 to 36 per cent and a CBS survey of uncommitted voters put Senator Biden at 46 per cent against 21 per cent who said Senator Palin won.
US newspapers differed sharply in scoring the debate. The Wall Street Journal said Mrs Palin ''more than held her own'' in debating foreign policy.
The New York Times, however, gave a scalding review of Mrs Palin's performance.
But Mrs Palin disappointed those who predicted she would fail miserably, following a tirade of mocking assessments about her credentials ahead of the election on November 4.
''I may not answer the question the way you want to hear, but I'll talk straight to the American people and let them know my track record also,'' Mrs Palin said.
Senator Biden, a political veteran of 35 years, provided detailed policy answers, trying to show a range of expertise across the economy, foreign policy and national security. At one stage, he choked up when he talked about his wife and infant daughter killed in a 1972 car crash, in a moment which may have helped Senator Biden forge an emotional connection with undecided voters.
Mrs Palin a moose-hunting mother of five fired off staccato soundbites and prepped answers which often ignored the questions, in a populist tone which framed her and Senator McCain, and not Senators Obama and Biden, as agents of change.
Framing herself as a typical middle-class person that goes to kids' soccer games, she showcased her ''hockey mum'' persona.
Mrs Palin painted herself as a reformer as a small town mayor and governor and an expert on energy.
Senator Biden, however, argued eight years of Republican policies were to blame for the US economy's nightmare.
AFP
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