Nominees ready for unusually important vice presidential debate

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Forget the rallies and the speeches. Tonight, the vice presidential candidates, Joe Biden and Sarah Palin, will take the stage at Washington University in St. Louis, unscripted and unfiltered, for their one and only face-to-face match-up.

Each has much to prove to voters. Palin, perhaps, more than Biden.

A new ABC News/Washington Post poll shows six out of ten respondents say the governor does not have enough experience to be president.

And, when it comes to understanding complex issues, respondents overwhelmingly favor Biden, 75 percent compared to only 46 percent for Palin.

"Mission number one is make no mistake. That could be nearly fatal to the McCain campaign," said George Stephanopoulos, on ABC's "This Week."

Biden, known for his own verbal misfires, must be careful not to allow a repeat of the 1984 debate, a part of which went like this:

"Let me help you, Miss Ferraro, with the difference between Iran and the embassy in Lebanon," Vice President George H.W. Bush said.

"Let me say, first of all, that I almost resent, Vice President Bush, your patronizing attitude that you have to teach me about foreign policy," said then-vice presidential nominee Geraldine Ferrero.

Biden has consulted with his female colleagues, who've advised him to treat Palin like any other worthy opponent, while Palin's been practicing at John McCain's home in Sedona, cramming on topics ranging from the economy to foreign policy.

Unlike other vice-presidential debates, experts say this debate has the potential to impact the election's outcome and is expected to be viewed by millions of voters.

You can watch it tonight on KTKA 49 ABC starting at 8 p.m.


Comments

Note: ktka.com does not necessarily condone the comments here, nor vouch for the factual claims made therein. Nor do we review every post.

Oct. 2, 2008 at 4:22 p.m. (Suggest removal)parkay (anonymous)

Sen. Joe Biden was one of only 5 senators to vote against the first Alaskan pipeline bill in 1973, during the first Arab oil embargo. (Remember the gas lines?) The Senate passed the 1973 Alaskan pipeline bill by an overwhelming 80-5 vote. The Alaskan pipeline produced more than 15 billion barrels of oil, supplied nearly 20% of this nation's oil, created tens of thousands of jobs, added hundreds of billions of dollars to the U.S. economy and reduced money transfers to the nation's enemies by about the same amount. The only argument against the pipeline was from tree-huggers, that it would harm the caribou. The caribou population near the pipeline, however, increased from 5,000 in the 1970s to 32,000 by 2002.
Remember this, the next time Blabbermouth Biden talks about oil, gas, Alaska, caribou, polar bears, jobs, the environment, or the economy.

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