From the daily kos, which for those that don't know is a blatantly liberal blog:
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Sarah Palin won! Actually, she survived, since she had no "deer in headlight" moments. Of course, it's easy to do that when you say, straight up, that you won't answer any questions you don't like. And in true to her word, she tossed aside any question that might prove problematic (like Biden's questions on McCain's support for deregulation) to discuss whatever talking points she had memorized.
And really, Palin was like one of those dolls where you pull the string, and some pre-recorded message comes out. Pull string, "They hate our freedoms!" Pull string, "Obama will raise taxes!" Pull string, "Drill, baby, drill!" It was tiresome and, frankly, a little boring.
Joe Biden obviously knows his sh*t. That was never in doubt, and nothing Biden did changes that perception. In fact, he even had a little of fun showmanship to spice up his answers, like his mocking of McCain's refusal to meet with Spain. And his takedown of McCain's "maverick" status was simply sublime.
So who won? Who cares. Nothing happened to change the dynamics of this race. Palin proved that she's still unable to answer the questions posed to her, but she also didn't fall flat on her face. And in the ridiculously depressed expectations for the governor of Alaska, she didn't crash and burn. But she didn't need to maintain the status quo. That's toxic territory for her. She needed to prove that she could get beyond pre-packaged talking points to demonstrating some capacity for analytical thought. In that regard, she failed.
On the merits, Biden won easy. On the things that debates are scored on, it was a draw. And for us Democrats, that's the same as victory.
And one more note -- Gwen Ifil was excellent. Like Lehrer, I forgot she was on stage, and that's the way moderators should be