Vice Presidential Debate - October 2, 2008

In just a few short hours, the Vice Presidential Nominees Sarah Palin and Joe Biden will take stage on location at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Even being just a vice-presidental debate, the outcome of the election can in a sense be decided, especially if Sarah Palin doesn't do well. But until it happens, noone can really say that she could not be a vice presidential candiate. She can actually give John McCain a shot in the arm and raise John McCain's ratings by a good performance. Many people claim that she lacks leadership, but being the maverick that John McCain is, he is staking his election on her ability to act as Vice President. She is an excellent debater, as proof when she won the Govornorship of Alaska. Her acceptance speech at the Republican Convention this year was also proof that she can handle her own. The question will be if she can answer questions accurately from Gwen Ifill, who is the moderator and managing editor of "Washington Week" on PBS.
Joe Biden, on the other hand has his tasks set for the evening. He should be directing his comments against John McCain, as he knows him well and likewise, Sarah Palin should direct statements against Barack Obama. Whoever wins the Presidential election on November 4th, will automatically take along their running mate as vice-president. So this debate should be about national and foreign policy, and directed against the Presidential Candidates. We will just have to see if Sarah Palin can hold her own during this debate. If she does not, John McCain can and will be further criticized and more and more people will insist that she step down as his running mate. That would be a disaster for McCain, as he then would be admitting making a critical wrong decision in the election. Only time will tell.
After this Vice-Presidential debate, there will be two more Presidential debates between John McCain and Barack Obama, the 2nd debate on October 7th in Nashville, Tennessee, and the final debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. Just a little over 4 weeks to go before the general election on November 4th, 2008.