Posted by Jed Lewison on Sun Sep 28, 2008 at 3:02 PM Pacific

Palin Needs A Game Changing Debate Performance

I've got a new post up at HuffPost on the expectations game for the VP debate. Here's an excerpt, capturing my basic argument.

The issue isn't so much what the expectations are for Palin's performance, but rather the fact that for her debate to have an impact on the campaign, she must deliver a game-changer for the McCain campaign -- and it has to be a positive one.

Make no mistake, a game-changer is exectly what McCain-land needs; after all, the only thing more distressing to them than Palin's dropping numbers is John McCain nosedive in the polls relative to Barack Obama.

Making things worse, all this is happening as time is running out. No matter how many times McCain may try to suspend his campaign, the election is on November 4, and nothing can change that reality.

Think about the fact that when Joe Biden and Sarah Palin take the stage, there will be just 33 days left until the election. That's not a lot of time, and unless Palin is able to turn the election around -- which no vice presidential candidate has ever done in the history of presidential politics -- her debate performance will at best be a non-issue.

Basically, she needs to be superhuman: to not only to turn her negative ratings around, but also to somehow make the case for John McCain in a way that he has not yet been able to do for himself. This is a task that even the greatest politician in history would probably not be able to achieve, and whether or not you think Palin is a decent debater (in my view, given the tightly structured format, she'll probably be fine), she's not the greatest politician ever.