Sarah Palin: She showed up, she shored up the base, she didn't screw up

It was Sarah Palin's debate to lose, and by not melting down, by expressing pride in her middle-class origins and flying the McCain flag, she did what she's there to do: energize the base.

By showing America that she could prep for this debate and hold her own on the stage with foreign policy expert Joe Biden, by not overselling herself (and a big part of that was talking about her tenure as a governor and mayor), she at least showed that she's a quick study, able to learn and wouldn't be as much of a horror as you'd think, were she actually called upon to serve as president.