Showdown for the undercard

It's hard to deny the conventional wisdom that the VP candidates debated to a draw (although Andrew Sullivan disagrees, although I think that helps Kerry/Edwards. Not because, as the pundits are saying, Edwards looked serious enough, but more because the Bush/Cheney ticket lost an opportunity to score, and the momentum is not on their side right now.

Based on last week's performance, and the administration's poor domestic record, I can't see Bush scoring a knockout in either of the remaining debates.

My favorite debate factoid so far is from CNN, who had 2 dozen people rating the candidates with people meters, and found that Cheney was at his most popular when he was discussing gay marriage. He said something like, "You've got to let people be free," and his rating spiked. He further said that marriage has traditionally been a state issue, suggesting it should stay one.

The irony, of course, is that he was describing a position in direct contravention of his ticket's official position on the issue. The official position is in favor of an amendment banning gay marriage and allowing states to ignore gay marriages performed legally in other states.

Maybe the debate was more inspirational than I give it credit for. It inspired both Howard and me to post within an hour....