Will Biden try to pound Palin at Wash U?
ST. PAUL — The Oct. 2 vice-presidential debate at Washington University has gotten more compelling.
On the surface, it looks one-sided. Joe Biden has a world of foreign policy experience, not to mention all his Judiciary Committee work and two presidential campaigns, and will talk, talk, talk till somebody gives him the hook.
But should the Barack Obama campaign be worried?
Quite possibly, if Biden takes Sarah Palin lightly or becomes overbearing, dismissive or patronizing — all within the realm of possibility.
Republicans in St. Paul already are playing the expectations game — and maybe some mind games — in anticipation of the evening when Biden and Palin meet in St. Louis.
“When he starts talking and trying to bully her around some, I think there’s going to be a very interesting reaction,” said Charlie Bass, head of the Republican Main Street Coalition, an organization of GOP moderates.
“If I were an Obama strategist, I’d be fretting about how to keep Biden under control when he is dealing with Sarah Palin,” added Bass, a former congressman from New Hampshire.
Two years ago, in an Alaska gubenatorial debate with then-Gov. Frank Murkowski, Palin was asked if she was “a little too young and inexperienced for the job.”
She responded by portraying herself as an outsider and reciting a litany of accomplishments as mayor of the Alaskan town of Wasilla.
In St. Louis, look for a similar tact — and remember that not long after that debate, Murkowski was looking for work.
BAD choice of headline, gentlemen.