ST. LOUIS (Oct. 2) -- Under intense scrutiny, Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin stood her ground Thursday night against a vastly more experienced Joe Biden, debating the economy, energy and global warming, then challenging him on Iraq, "especially with your son in the National Guard."
The Alaska governor also noted that Biden had once said Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama wasn't ready to be commander in chief, "and I know again that you opposed the move that he made to try to cut off funding for the troops and I respect you for that."
Democrat Joe Biden and Republican Sarah Palin went head to head in their first and only vice presidential debate in St. Louis on Thursday, clashing on the economy, energy issues and foreign policy. Here, the candidates greet each other at the start of the highly anticipated showdown.
Scott Olson, Getty Images
The debate at Washington University in St. Louis marked the first meeting of the vice presidential candidates. "Can I call you Joe?" Palin asked Biden, who approved.
Don Emmert, AP
The stakes were particularly high for Palin, who has served as governor of Alaska for less than two years. Polls show the public has become more skeptical of her ability to handle the vice presidency. Palin made only one obvious stumble, when she twice referred to Gen. David McKiernan, the top U.S. general in Afghanistan, as "Gen. McClellan."
Rick Wilking, Pool / Getty Images
The pressure was less intense for Biden, a veteran of more than 35 years in the Senate.
Ron Edmonds, AP
The economy quickly took center stage, with both candidates weighing in on the financial crisis and the bailout bill awaiting congressional approval. "The economic policies of the last eight years have been the worst economic policies we've ever had," Biden said.
Rick Wilking, Reuters
Palin said one way to gauge the economic times would be to attend a child's soccer game and listen to parents. "I betcha you're going to hear some fear," she said.
Ron Edmonds, AP
Later, the tone became more heated when the topic turned to the Iraq war. Biden said that he and Barack Obama will be the administration to end the war and said John McCain had been "dead wrong" about the conflict. "For John McCain there is no end in sight to end this war -- fundamental difference," he said.
David McNew, Getty Images
Palin countered that Obama's exit plan was essentially "a white flag of surrender in Iraq" at a moment when victory was "within sight." She also said Biden had once supported McCain's view of the war.
J. Scott Applewhite, AP
Palin got some bad news just before the debate, when an Alaska judge threw out a lawsuit filed by Republicans seeking to stop an abuse-of-power investigation aimed at her. Here, Palin looks on from the side prior to taking the stage.
Chip Somodevilla, Getty Images
Palin and Biden smile after the conclusion of the debate.
Ron Edmonds, AP
Biden responded that John McCain, too, had voted against funding, and said the Republican presidential candidate had been "dead wrong on the fundamental issues relating to the conduct of the war."
The clash over Iraq was the most personal, and pointed, of the 90-minute debate in which Palin repeatedly cast herself as a non-Washington politician, part of a "team of mavericks" that she said was ready to bring change to a country demanding it.
From the opening moments of the debate, Biden sought to make McCain out as a straight-ahead successor to an unpopular President Bush. "He voted four out of five times for George Bush's budget, which put us a half-trillion dollars in debt and over $4 trillion in debt since he got here," he said of McCain.
Palin merely accused Biden of reciting the past rather than looking to the future. "Americans are cravin' that straight talk" that McCain offers, she said.
The two running mates debated for 90 minutes on a stage at Washington University, their only encounter of a campaign with little more than one month to go.
Recent polls show Obama with a small but perceptible lead, and Republican officials said earlier in the day that McCain had decided to pull out of Michigan, conceding the state to the Democrats. At the same time, his own aides said the campaign may soon begin to advertise in Indiana a state that has voted Republican in every presidential election since 1968.
Palin faced enormous challenges of her own, though. After five weeks as McCain's ticket-mate, her poll ratings had begun dropping and even some conservatives have questioned her readiness for high public office.
Her solo campaign events are few, and she has drawn ridicule for some of her answers in the few interviews she has granted including her claim that Alaska's proximity to Russia gives her an insight into foreign policy.
After intense preparation including two days at McCain's home in Sedona, Ariz., there was only one obvious stumble, when she twice referred to the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan as "Gen. McClellan." His name is David McKiernan.
Biden's burden was not nearly as fundamental. Although he has long had a reputation for long-windedness, he is a veteran of more than 35 years in the Senate, with a strong knowledge of foreign policy as well as domestic issues.
For much of the evening, the debate unfolded in traditional vice presidential fashion the running mates praising their own presidential candidate and denigrating the other.
Palin said Obama had voted to raise taxes 94 times an allegation that Biden disputed and then countered. By the same reckoning, he said, McCain voted "477 times to raise taxes."
They clashed over energy policy, as well, when Palin said Obama's vote for a Bush administration-backed bill granted breaks to the oil industry. By contrast, she said that as governor, she had stood up to the same industry, and noted that McCain had voted against the bill Obama supported.
Biden said that in the past decade, McCain had voted "20 times against funding alternative energy sources and thinks, I guess, the only answer is drill, drill, drill."
"The chant is, 'drill, baby drill," Palin countered quickly, unwilling to yield to Biden on that issue or any other.
On the environment, Palin declined to attribute the cause of climate change to man-made activities alone. "There is something to be said also for man's activities, but also for the cyclical temperature changes on our planet," she said, adding that she didn't want to argue about the causes.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
(Nov. 20) -- President-elect Barack Obama wants Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano to serve as his secretary of homeland security, according to reports in... Read More
NEW ORLEANS To Marc Lamont Hill, the election of Barack Obama proves black America can reach a goal once considered unattainable, but it doesn't end... Read More
The Associated Press reports that Obama's aides have been privately talking to senators about whether Holder would make it through the nominating... Read More
MIAMI (AP) Former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele is running to be the next chairman of the Republican National Committee.
Following the GOP's... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) Detroit's Big Three auto makers are begging Congress for a $25 billion government rescue, while the legislation clings to life... Read More
