Whoa. That debate was like running a half-marathon at a 5k pace. It was hotly anticipated and proved to be even more intense than expected. Your fantastic comments during the debate came almost faster than the candidates' answers themselves. Here's what we thought of the big #2 showdown:

Citizen:
This was a fast and furious debate. It barely paused long enough to get questions uttered before zooming on. Perhaps the questions over Gwen Ifill's motives were wildly unnecessary as she was competent though mostly periphery to the sheer pace. The questions she asked were fair and the candidates only really loosely followed them anyway. Sarah Palin was firmly self-assured as soon as she settled in, and both Palin and Biden hammered home a 100-mile-an-hour back-up of the arguments for their respective presidential candidates, exactly what they were supposed to do.

Joe Biden brought a similar performance to what we're used to seeing from him, the wild card of course was Palin. Her grasp of foreign policy facts was bullet-point perfect tonight, and her accessibility and — I'll say it — personality really shone through. Republicans were facing an uphill climb, stymied a bit by recent poll numbers and Palin's interview performances — Palin took that challenge, and especially in the first half of the debate, hit it home.

To see the rest of my thoughts, and what Liberty has to say, read more.

During the foreign policy section, Biden hotly attacked on Afghanistan, saying, "Facts matter Gwen . . . our commanding general in Afghanistan said the surge principals will not work in Afghanistan." But Palin came right back, directly refuting Biden's claims leaving him quieter and repeating himself. She couched her poison arrows with a huge dose of honey, appealing to the twin desires of her supporters — to love her and leave Biden crippled. Her performance read exactly like that. She turned a question about her weaknesses into a soaring endorsement for what's good about America, "Democracy, tolerance, and freedom." If the phrase weren't already assigned to another point in history, I'd say of Sarah Palin tonight, "Mission accomplished."

Liberty:
Sidestepping Sarah Palin, Joe Biden hit John McCain's maverick reputation extremely hard. On both economic and foreign policy issues, Biden gave some strong concrete examples of how McCain mirrors George W. Bush, and how the Obama ticket differs. While Sarah Palin avoided answering the "how" of many questions, Biden offered details. Viewers may have gotten lost in a (sometimes) unemotional argument, but I think Biden's details helped affirm the narrative that the Obama/Biden ticket is more prepared to face the serious challenges.

Sarah Palin, the maverick's running mate, came out strong on issues like Americans living within their means, paying less taxes, and working toward energy independence. She often got those points by avoiding tough questions and reverting back to her strengths.

I'm sure the fact that they made it through without any major gaffes (maybe a couple minor ones), comes as a relief to both VP candidates!

What did you think? Was there a winner? Was this a game changer?

The opinions expressed here are those of the authors, CitizenSugar and LibertySugar, and do not necessarily reflect the positions of Sugar Inc.

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