Well... I thought the evening was a general FAIL on the part of Palin, Biden, and Ifil.
Ifil: No followup questions and no "hey wait a minute you didn't answer my question." Both candidates got away with going straight to their "flashcard answers" ....
Palin: Everytime she claimed McCain meant something different about "fundamentals of the economy" than what the phrase actually means -- I wanted to slap her. Otherwise, 90% of her talk was what I expected her to do: platitudes, mom, apple pie, and a bit of populism (get the greedy lenders.... um, banking scandals are not exactly off the rap sheet for Republicans?). Some points for complete sentences for a change.
Biden: Missed many opportunities he was so busy going for his own "flashcard answers". Far too sedate .... Palin spent more of the debate sounding passionate even when she wasn't actually saying anything..