CNN -- Sen. Joe Biden gave a knowledgeable but restrained performance in Thursday night's vice presidential debate, while Gov. Sarah Palin sought to show that her accomplishments as governor and mayor prove she is qualified for the job. Biden, the Democratic vice presidential candidate, slammed John McCain, saying "he has been no maverick on the issues that matter to people lives," but his only challenge to Palin was asking her to articulate a policy on the Iraq war.
Palin, the Republican vice presidential candidate, pushed her "track record of reform" and said she and McCain are a "team of mavericks. Watch Biden slam McCain's "maverick" image ». The debate took place at Washington University in St. The candidates covered everything from the economy to energy policy to foreign policy in the first and only vice presidential debate of the election season. You tell us. Paul Begala, a Democratic strategist and CNN contributor, said the candidates approached the questions in different ways.
Joe Biden's strategy was to hammer McCain , link him to the status quo and Bush. He succeeded," Begala said. Watch the candidates talk about their role as VP ». In the days leading up to the debate, Palin was heavily criticized for her television interviews with CBS' Katie Couric. Palin stumbled through answers to questions about foreign policy, Supreme Court rulings and which newspapers she reads, causing pundits to question how she would hold up against Biden. She stressed her personal experience both as a mom and as a governor, from the kitchen table to the executive branch, her record as a reformer and bipartisan deal maker.
She even got Biden to agree with her," Holmes said. See what the analysts thought ». Going into the debate, there was a lot of speculation about whether Biden would make any major gaffes. Biden has had a lot of experience in the public eye, but has also earned a reputation for his impetuous and brutally honest remarks.
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Republican vice-presidential candidate Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney campaigned in O'Fallon, Mo. You've read of free articles. Subscribe to continue. Mark Sappenfield. Our work isn't possible without your support. Digital subscription includes: Unlimited access to CSMonitor. The Monitor Daily email. No advertising. Cancel anytime. Copy link Link copied. Renew subscription Return to the free version of the site.
Her task didn't seem any easier in the general election, but she handily beat Tony Knowles, a popular Democrat who had served two earlier terms as governor.
During her first year in office, Palin moved away from the powerful old guard of the state Republican Party and presided over a tax increase on oil company profits that now has the state's treasury swelling.
But she is a bullish proponent of petroleum development, in tune with McCain, although the two disagree on drilling in Alaska's protected Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. She favors drilling there; he opposes it. The governor also opposed designating polar bears as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, fearing that step would threaten offshore drilling. She came into office preaching reform at a time when a federal corruption investigation dogged a number of Alaska's Republican elected officials.
One such powerhouse, Sen. To rid the Capitol of the appearance of undue influence, she kept lobbyists out of her office. And after two years as governor, her popularity reached 80 percent in approval ratings.
Still, she was shadowed through the presidential campaign by an inquiry that found she violated state ethics laws by letting a family dispute influence her decision-making as governor. Specifically, she had fired Alaska's public safety commissioner after she and her husband Todd had pressed him to dismiss her former brother-in-law as a state trooper.
Palin still makes her home in Wasilla, a town of 6, about 30 miles 48 kilometers north of Anchorage, with her husband, a blue-collar North Slope oil worker who four times has won the Iron Dog, a 1,mile 3,kilometer snow machine race. He is part Yup'ik Eskimo. The two used to spend summers fishing commercially for salmon, an enterprise that once left her with broken fingers. The two met at a high school basketball game and they eloped in , six years after graduation, to avoid the cost of a wedding.
Even before McCain picked Palin, people outside Alaska were beginning to notice the young governor with the bright smile — runner-up in the Miss Alaska contest — whose good looks spawned a bumper sticker that read: "Coldest State.
Hottest Governor. I had to show them my bunny boots and my North Face clothing. She did the photo shoot while just a few months pregnant, which the public did not know.
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