Political death match

— Editor's note: Tanya Amador-Daigle is re p o rting for Florida Weekly on the presidential election. She has a unique perspective on the primaries and the process for choosing a candidate, having traveled the country reporting on primaries and caucuses for the Purple States project. To learn more about Purple States go, to www.purplestates.tv.

In contrast to the presidential debate, which was a yawn, Thursday nights' vice presidential debate was spun as a sequel to MTV's Celebrity Death Match. All day, leading up to what turned out to be the main event in this election season, I kept hearing from people that they were going home to make popcorn. Some said we were going to see Gov. Sarah Palin, "get thrown to the ground" by Sen. Joe Biden. Yep, you said it; you know who you are.

Others disagreed and said Biden would come off looking like a bully if he attacked Palin. He may have the ability to chew her up and spit her out, but he will refrain, they said.

Strong Palin supporters maintained that all she had to do was just be her charming self and she would do just fine. Depending on your perspective, all of these things probably happened in some shape or form. After a record-breaking night in Nielsen ratings, both camps predictably wasted no time in publicly claiming that their contender had won.

My observation was that Palin was somewhat convincing on energy, at least on oil, and Biden was well versed on foreign policy, no big surprise. Both of them were splitting hairs when debating the issue of sitting down and negotiating with despots. Amusingly, both kept stating that the other party's facts were wrong. Huh? If either was lying, couldn't we check the facts?

It was obvious who had more experience and Biden sure made a show of it. He kept giving Palin a little smile and a chuckle as if to say "Awe, isn't she a cute little girl trying to play with the big boys?" His habit of saying, "Let me say this again," and then repeating it incessantly for drama, grated on my nerves, as well as Palin's overuse of the word "maverick."

Biden seemed confident and nimble. When the debate turned to foreign policy, he had the upper hand. To his credit, he was gentlemanly about it. He had to be. To do otherwise would have done him harm.

There were frequent examples of Palin's lack of knowledge throughout the debate that I believe caused her to miss opportunities. For instance, with regards to where responsibility lies on the bailout issue, I think there is plenty of blame to go around. However, when Biden said Obama was the one to wave the warning flag a couple of years ago, I was wondering why Palin didn't mention one of Obama's speeches he gave in 2005. It was a speech in which he appeared alongside Fannie Mae CEO Daniel Mudd in front of the Congressional Black Caucus bragging about how they were giving more sub-prime mortgages than ever before. Do I even need to point out that loose lending practices for too many people who couldn't afford them is one of the biggest reasons we are in this economic mess?

Another illustration of Palin's lack of knowledge is her clever trick of talking in circles. When she didn't know the answer, she would simply change the question and then answer it. She seems very adept at doing this. Some may not view this as a negative. If you look at it from the perspective that she is taking control of a situation, it can be viewed as a strength.

As I've said before, Biden undoubtedly has more experience. But what we as voters have to decide is this: What kind of experience? In all of his years in Washington, were all of his decisions sound? Perhaps voters will question his character as well. How does one buy that Biden believes in Obama after he said during the primaries that he wasn't ready to lead — after he said John McCain was more qualified to lead? Are we just supposed to forget he said those things? Is that the "change we can believe in?" Biden kept saying how much he loved and respected McCain, as he twisted the knife. What do those actions say about his character?

Despite the fact that Palin may be a little wet behind the ears, as her critics like to point out, one thing that keeps coming back to me is this truth: Hasn't it been said that the thing that is worse than people talking about you, is them NOT talking about you? In my humble opinion, it seems Palin may be a genuine threat to the Democratic Party. Why else would they seek to destroy her?

Purple States

Purple States citizen journalists have joined forces with the Washington Post to cover the issues that matter most to Americans leading up to election day. New videos will be aired at www. washingtonpost.com on Thursdays. Purple States also has daily video and interaction with American voters at www.purplestates.tv