VP Debate Prediction

Here’s my guess about tomorrow’s debate:
Neither Palin nor Biden will say anything exceptionally absurd, despite the expectations. Palin will play it safe and will rely on a lot of campaign talking poings, while Biden will try to throw in wonky knowledge in his answers in order to show contrast in the depth of experience. Palin will portray herself as change from outside the beltway and will hold Biden responsible for bad things happening in the last couple of decades. Both sides will claim a win, Palin’s negatives will drop after the debate, but the race will stay about the same overall.

Slate has an article about the debate format and why it’s terrible. To quote the article:

[...] abbreviated formats leave the weakest ones plenty of room to hide. Because no rule forces the candidate to burn all of the allotted time answering the question, he can evade complexity and nuance by giving a rehearsed 30-second sound bite, especially if there is no provision for a follow-up question—which there usually isn’t.

The short time for an answer helps both candidates, as it lets Palin hide and may prevent Biden from saying something ridiculous.