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"and as I recall most people thought she did fairly well, the debate coming off as a draw."

You recall incorrectly, or so say the scientific polls that were done immediately following the debate. Not one has it a draw.

Who Won VP Debate: A Review of Polls with October 3 pm update

“scientific polls that were done immediately following the debate. Not one has it a draw”

Here, read this:
"Poll: Kerry tops Bush in debate
But Bush gets nod for believability
(CNN) — Sen. John Kerry fared better than President Bush in Thursday night's presidential debate, according to a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll of 615 registered voters who watched the event.
-snip-

Overall, 53 percent of Thursday's debate watchers interviewed said Kerry did the better job, compared with 37 percent who favored Bush.”
http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/10/01/debate.poll/index.html

Kerry beat Bush by massive 16 points according to CNN’s post debate poll. How did that work out for Kerry in the actual elections? He lost.
I think the effect of the debates on the actual voting, is very much overrated. I would argue that campaign stump speeches, and the convention speech(areas that Sarah Palin really shines at) have a greater effect on voters than the debates.

"scientific polls"?????

Your source for the polls doesn't come clear in my browser, but I copied this quote from the article:

I was surprised that Palin's charm did not work better than the poll results showed. But she likely was weighed down by Saturday Night Live parodies and interviews earlier in the week with CBS's Couric. By the time of the debate, people knew that she is not ready for the presidency and saw through her efforts to appear that she was with canned responses.

The issue from the Thursday night debate ultimately is not about Palin but about McCain's judgment in selecting someone with so little qualification for national office.

The McCain/Palin ticket will likely drop into attack gear for the remainder of the campaign in a last ditch effort to stop Obama and Biden. I think it's likely to become really ugly but hope that McCain chooses instead to recover some of his dignity as Palin did in a good effort Thursday night.

No bias there right? It appears Olddeckhand believes the MSM templates quite well. It was Palin's fault McCain lost. Is your last name Schmidt?