Republican Sarah Palin and Democrat Joe Biden clashed on the economy and Iraq during a lively but polite debate on Thursday, and aimed most criticism at their rivals at the top of the ticket. In the only vice presidential debate ahead of the November 4 election, Biden accused Republican presidential contender John McCain of being "out of touch" on the economic crisis and said he was "no maverick" on crucial issues facing Americans.
Palin said Democratic White House candidate Barack Obama was too partisan to work across party lines to accomplish change and was waving a "white flag of surrender" in Iraq. With all eyes on Palin in her national debut in an unscripted format, the Alaska governor turned in a steady and aggressive performance that featured repeated attacks on Obama and pledges she and McCain would work for the middle-class.
She frequently displayed the folksy style that has become a favourite target of late-night comics. "Aw, say it ain't so, Joe," she told Biden at one point, adding a "doggone it" for good measure. Biden also had an emotional moment, choking up when recalling having to raise his two young sons alone after their mother died in a car crash.
As the two strode on the stage, Palin greeted Biden, saying: "Nice to meet you. Can I call you Joe?" Biden pledged he and Obama would end the war. Obama is an early critic of the Iraq war who has called for a 16-month timeline to withdraw US troops. "Your plan is a white flag of surrender," Palin told Biden.
Both candidates said they would work to change current US economic policy to make it more friendly to middle-class workers, but Biden noted McCain had called the fundamentals of the economy strong as the Wall Street crisis broke out. "That doesn't make John McCain a bad guy, but it does point out he's out of touch," Biden, a Delaware senator, said on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.
Palin said McCain was talking about the American workforce and said Obama would raise taxes on American workers and small business owners. Obama has called for a middle-class tax cut and would raise taxes only on those making more than $250,000.
"I do respect your years in the US Senate, but I think Americans are craving something new and different," Palin told Biden. The highly anticipated match-up promised more than the usual drama because of curiosity about Palin, a relative unknown who was thrust into instant celebrity when she was selected as McCain's No 2 in August.
The encounter may have drawn a larger television audience than the 52 million who watched last week's first debate between the presidential candidates. Palin hoped a solid performance could help slow Obama's momentum, which has seen the Illinois senator solidify his lead in national opinion polls and grab an advantage in crucial state battlegrounds like Florida and Ohio.
Biden said the $700 billion bailout of Wall Street he voted for, along with Obama and McCain, might force the Democrats to reconsider their promise to double foreign aid. "The one thing we might have to slow down is a commitment we made to double foreign assistance," he said when asked what programs might have to be jettisoned because of the financial crisis. Biden said McCain had not been a maverick on the vital issues facing the United States from health care to Iraq. "He's not been a maverick on virtually anything that people talk about around the kitchen table," he said.