VP Debates

The Vice Presidential debates that took place last night turned out to be one of the most watched debates in history - an unusual occurrence for an unusual election. Once of the most amusing aspects of this race was that decided voters on each side seem to largely have tuned in to watch the other side fall flat on their face. Palin has been under heavy fire lately due to some poor interviews, namely that with Katie Couric - an interview so awful that even some in her own party began to think McCain should take her off of the ticket - and many Democrats tuned in with glee to hopefully see her continue to seem like she doesn't know what's going on. Similarly, Biden has become known for saying unfortunate comments that are in some way offensive or insensitive. So what happened? Neither side had a serious blunder, and in the day-after fall out it seems agreed to be a tie - those who already leaned toward Obama-Biden thought Biden won, and those who leaned towards McCain-Palin thought Palin won, and undecideds really had nothing new to really change their mind. However, many critics are arguing that a tie is a win for Palin after her recent disasters, and that contrary to expectations she was able to hold her own both on foreign policy and the economy against a seasoned politician. Being able to talk straight to the people in a more free form than a direct interview definitely seems to benefit Palin - and she was articulate and had something to say on every issue. Biden also did pretty well - but since that is what was more expected of him it really didn't gain anything for him.

So that's two debates now where it seems that almost no one changed their mind, which makes sense given the ridiculously long election season we've had. How much more can Obama or McCain say without getting into the details of policy that never seem to resonate well with the audience (and tends to lead to a decent amount of snoring...). Most Americans seem to have a good idea of what both candidates stand far as much as one expects to in any election - so what does this mean for November? And why then have the polls jumped all over the place over the last month? I would suggest that it is more the fickleness of the human mind, where we care the most about what is currently bothering us now. Obama has painted himself as strong on the economy, whereas McCain is more well known for being strong on foreign policy. And, coincidentally (or is it?), every time the economy takes another dive, Obama rises in the polls. And every time things seem to be looking better domestically and people again begin to focus abroad, McCain rises in the polls. Yet neither has revealed anything new about their policies in this time. With how close elections tend to run in the United States, this could mean that who is sworn into office next year has more to do with what domestic and international events occur in the next month than any actual policy or debate of the candidates.

And there's nothing more comforting than knowing our next President is going to be a result of chance as much as of merit.