United States vice presidential debate, 2008

Venue

Washington State University in Pullman, Washington, had been offered the opportunity to host the debate, but declined in order to pursue hosting one of the presidential debates. In November 2007 it was announced that Washington University in St. Louis would be the venue for the debate, making the university the only institution, as of 2008, to have hosted three or more presidential debates.

Debate

The first 90-minute presidential debate was divided into nine 3-minute issue segments, allowing the candidates to discuss selected topics, answer follow-ups from a moderator and directly address each other. The vice-presidential debate format followed that of the first presidential debate, but included questions on all topics and had shorter response and discussion periods.

The two candidates had never met before, which was part of the build-up to the debate. Palin said on one of her stump speeches before the debate, "I've never met [Biden] before. But I've been hearing about his Senate speeches since I was in, like, second grade." After moderator Gwen Ifill introduced the candidates, where they came out, Palin asked Biden, "Can I call you Joe?" He replied affirmatively. She said at one point, "I may not answer the questions the way the moderator and you want to hear." Critics said she was avoiding the debate itself, while her supporters could make the claim that she was answering the questions to "Joe six-pack" or "hockey moms." She used her inexperience to her advantage by saying, "It's so obvious that I'm a Washington outsider and not used to the ways you guys operate."

Palin spoke in greatest depth about energy policy while Biden spoke in greatest depth about foreign affairs. Biden refrained from criticizing Palin, concentrating his criticisms on McCain. While Palin offered brief criticism of Biden, she concentrated most of her criticism on Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama. Whereas Biden defended against Palin's criticisms of Obama, Palin tended not to offer detailed defenses against Biden's criticisms of Republican nominee John McCain and the George W. Bush administration, emphasizing instead generalizations about McCain and Palin's plans to reform the ways of Washington. Biden let it be known that he thought at one time McCain was a "maverick," but that is no longer the case.

During the debate Palin made the point of talking about a potential surge strategy in Afghanistan and mentioned the commanding general there as being "McClellan." Pundits criticized Biden's omission of the general's name; he referred to him several times only as the "commanding general in Afghanistan," until it was discovered the General's name is in fact David D. McKiernan.

One of the most memorable moments during the debate came at the end when Biden talked about the tragedy that affected his family when his wife and daughter died and his sons were injured. He explained by saying, "The notion that somehow, because I'm a man, I don't know what it's like to raise two kids alone, I don't know what it's like to have a child you're not sure is going to – is going to make it – I understand [...]." Palin did not react to this, instead, returning to her campaign's platform.

Reception

Much interest leading up to the debate stemmed from Governor Palin's poorly handled interviews conducted in the weeks leading up to the event; many of her responses were the brunt of severe criticism, and a poll in early October from the Pew Research Center showed that the number of people who believed Palin was qualified to serve as president had dropped to 37% from 52% in early September. Consequently, the vice-presidential debate was largely seen as an opportunity for further destruction or redemption on Palin's part. Several polls suggested that Biden had won the debate; although, many observers were surprised by Palin's speaking abilities and knowledge of John McCain's policies. CNN polls found Biden won 51 to 36. It is widely agreed that both candidates accurately followed the "do no harm" guideline of vice-presidential debates. James Taylor, professor of political science at the University of San Francisco commented, "[Palin] resuscitated herself, but I'm not sure she did quite enough to do anything for John McCain." He added "Biden demonstrated he knows John McCain better than Sarah Palin does. She couldn't offer rebuttals during the depth of discussions. She read the Cliff Notes on McCain, and Biden has known John McCain."

According to a poll of uncommitted voters conducted immediately after the debate by CBS News and Knowledge Networks, 46% thought Senator Biden won the debate, 21% thought Governor Palin had won, and 33% thought it was a tie. Fox News Channel held a poll regarding the performance of each candidate, with 51% of the votes in favor of Biden, and 39% in favor of Palin. The Opinion Research Corporation's poll on the debate revealed that 51% of viewers felt Biden had won, while 36% were in favor of Palin. In the same poll, 87% said Biden was capable of fulfilling the duties of the vice presidency, while 42% said Palin was capable. Palin was considered more likable however, scoring 54% to Biden's 36%. Mark Halperin of Time graded both candidates' performances a B.

The event overall was widely described as having little effect on the 2008 presidential race, although a CBS News poll found that the presidential race tightened following the vice-presidential debate, with the Obama-Biden lead falling from 9 points to 4 points.

Moderator Gwen Ifill

The debate's format offered moderator Gwen Ifill great freedom and power to decide the questions which can cover domestic or international issues. On the day before the debate, it gained wide media attention that Ifill had authored a new book The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama, which was to be released by publisher Doubleday on January 20, 2009, the day of the presidential inauguration. Ifill did not inform the debate commission about her book. Fox News' Washington managing editor Brit Hume claimed Ifill had a "financial stake" in an Obama victory because of the profit she stood to make from her book. "There's not a lot of demand out there for books about the 'Age of [Walter] Mondale' or the 'Age of [John] Kerry,'" said former Indiana Representative John Hostettler in an article in WorldNetDaily. John McCain said he was confident Ifill would do “a totally objective job,” but stated, “Does this help that if she has written a book that’s favorable to Senator Obama? Probably not.” In response to the controversy, Ifill questioned why people assume that her book will be favorable toward Obama, saying "Do you think they made the same assumptions about Lou Cannon [who is white] when he wrote his book about [Ronald] Reagan?".

A national poll was held immediately following the vice-presidential debate, indicating that 95% of viewers felt Ifill was fair and unbiased.

Parody

Soon after the debate, a parody was created as the cold open for popular sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live. The sketch starred Tina Fey in her signature impression of Sarah Palin, Jason Sudeikis as Joe Biden, and Queen Latifah appearing as a guest to play Gwen Ifill. As customary on SNL sketches, the transcript corresponded to the debate while making fun of candidates' shortcomings. Palin, as usual, was depicted as not really knowing much other than having been a maverick. "You know, we're gonna take every aspect of the crisis and look at it and then we're gonna ask ourselves, 'What would a maverick do in this situation?' And then, you know, we'll do that!". Senator Biden was comedically portrayed in his soft spot for John McCain. "Because, look, I LOVE John McCain. He is one of my dearest friends. But, at the same time, he's also dangerously unbalanced. I mean, let's be frank, John McCain – and again, this is a man I would take a bullet for – is bad at his job and is mentally unstable."

The debate sketch sparked a great deal of interest, including a rare response by Joe Biden on ABC's Good Morning America. Biden told host Diane Sawyer "Oh God. I wish I had that much hair." Still unable to stop laughing, Biden said, "These guys are incredible, I don't know what to say."