Both presidential campaigns hit the trail Friday claiming victory in the vice presidential debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin, but it was Palin's cool and confident performance that prompted analysts to suggest that after more than a week of bad news for Republicans, John McCain can ride a new wind into the final month of the race.
The stakes were high for Palin going into the debate. A series of shaky interview performances led prominent conservatives -- much less independents and liberals -- to question her credentials.
The doubts were coupled with other bad news for McCain -- ongoing credit turmoil in the financial markets that didn't help the Arizona senator's poll numbers, despite his leading an emergency legislative powwow in Washington, and news that the Republican nominee was pulling out of the battleground state of Michigan.
But Palin pulled off a bravura performance, say analysts.
"Sarah Palin saved John McCain again Thursday night. She is the political equivalent of cardiac paddles," conservative columnist Peggy Noonan, who was caught criticizing Palin in an off-camera moment in early September, wrote in The Wall Street Journal.
"So, who won? On substance, the edge goes to Mr. Biden. On style, Ms. Palin eked out a close win, enormously magnified by the plain fact that she wasn't chased off the stage," wrote editors at The Dallas Morning News.
Meanwhile, Biden, by putting a hold on his gaffe-prone tongue and showing restraint against Palin, helped Barack Obama's campaign, analysts said. One Obama aide told FOX News before the debate started that if all went well for them, most people won't even remember Biden was there.
"I think Biden actually did what he needed to do," Democratic strategist Kirsten Powers said Friday. "He really needed to do no harm ... He didn't really take the bait too much."
But even as many declared Biden the actual winner of the debate, several analysts renewed their praise of Palin and suggested that the first-term Alaska governor's defying expectations is a much bigger moral victory.
"A lot of people, and I include myself in that group, wondered if Sarah Palin was gonna screw up big time. She didn't," said former CBS newsman Bernie Goldberg, a FOX News analyst.
"I think last night she redeemed herself for a couple of very bad weeks," said Howard Wolfson, Hillary Clinton's former spokesman.
Wolfson said the Palin that appeared on stage in St. Louis Thursday night was reminiscent of the Palin on stage at the GOP national convention -- the one that invigorated the Republican ticket and helped give McCain a lead, however fleeting, in the polls over Obama in early September.
Palin was folksy and deliberately commonplace, reaching out to middle-class voters on personality as Biden attempted to connect with them on policy.
"Sarah Palin had command of the facts, probably not as well as Biden," Goldberg said. "But she came off as extremely likable."
Palin's performance was a lifeline to McCain as the two presidential candidates head into their second debate Tuesday.
Asked when he was going to "take the gloves off" with Obama at a Denver town hall late Thursday, McCain quipped: "How 'bout Tuesday night?"
Palin also could help keep McCain afloat as the campaign revises its strategy for the final month.
His campaign confirmed Thursday it was pulling campaign staff and advertising out of Michigan, as polls show the Arizona senator losing support in the battleground. McCain also canceled a visit to the state slated for next week.
On a conference call Thursday, McCain campaign aides said Michigan had always been the weakest of the toss-up states for them, and they are still looking at battlegrounds like Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
They said they are planning to move resources into Maine, and start to compete with Obama aggressively in Florida.
Senior adviser Greg Strimple said that in states like Florida, the campaign made a strategic decision to let Obama spend resources until closer to Election Day. He said the McCain campaign would pour more money into advertising and watch the territory snap back in his favor.
Topic: Palin Performance Helps McCain Regain Political Footing! (Read 554 times)