No gaffes in last night's debate? Darn right!

Last night she explained that her answer "was a lame attempt at a joke and your's [Biden's] was a lame attempt at a joke, too, I guess, because nobody got it."

Maverick

The Vote is guessing that the McCain team must have focus-group tested the word "maverick" and the company responsible told them it was OK to use 60,000 times in a week.

It was only mentioned 15 times last night. A couple times even by Joe Biden. Sometimes it flowed well in a sentence. Sometimes it was painful.

Where "maverick" worked:

"I think that's why we need to send the maverick from the Senate and put him in the White House, and I'm happy to join him there."

Where "maverick" didn't work:

"And I've joined this team that is a team of mavericks with John McCain, also."

Where "maverick" worked quite well:

"As for disagreeing with John McCain and how our administration would work, what do you expect? A team of mavericks, of course we're not going to agree on 100 percent of everything."

Where "maverick" was a disaster:

"Also, John McCain's maverick position that he's in, that's really prompt up to and indicated by the supporters that he has."

Biden's use of maverick:

"Look, the maverick -- let's talk about the maverick John McCain is. And, again, I love him. He's been a maverick on some issues, but he has been no maverick on the things that matter to people's lives."

The great part about that statement was Biden's insertion of the words "I love him" right before the slam.

It's like when you are talking to a friend about someone and you don't want to sound too harsh. So you preface your remarks by saying, "I love him like a brother, don't get me wrong. But ... (insert body slam here)."

No more Couric?

After last night's performance, Palin just might be out of the woods. That doesn't mean the poll numbers are going to flip around. But maybe, just one day soon, there won't be any further installments of the Katie Couric - Sarah Palin interview. Although it would be ratings extravaganza.

NY Times

Even the McCain campaign's favorite newspaper had some nice things to say about Palin's performance.

"Ms. Palin spoke far more fluidly and confidently than she had in her devastating interviews with Katie Couric of CBS," writes TV columnist Alessandra Stanley. "Ms. Palin did stumble into a few loop-the-loop non sequiturs, but mostly she stuck to practiced talking points."

"She was friendly and respectful to Mr. Biden," she continued. "Then, every now and then, she cocked her head, winked, and nudged him hard — like a little sister who knows her older brother cannot hit back."

If the poll numbers start moving in the other direction, you can bet Obama-Biden will hit back. Right now, they'll probably just leave her alone.

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