WILMINGTON, Del. -- Despite the overwhelming hype and record viewership of Thursday's vice presidential debate, the event only half lived up to expectations. Interesting, yes. Impactful? Probably not.
But for the Obama campaign, that was just fine. The view going into the event was that Joe Biden needed only to survive the 90 minutes without making a major gaffe and the campaign could sustain its momentum going forward.
Still, some Democrats expressed disappointment about the Delaware senator's reluctance to respond to Sarah Palin's direct attacks. Some chalked this up to Palin's gender -- that Biden did not want to appear condescending or overly aggressive even when Palin's answers were vague and seemed open to counter-attack. (One senior campaign official called her response on nuclear weapons "incomprehensible.") But Biden's low-key approach very much was in keeping with his style.
In his recent memoir, Promises to Keep, Biden writes about his first campaign for the Senate in 1972. Biden, 29, was facing off against a Delaware icon, former governor and incumbent Sen. Caleb Boggs. During a debate, Boggs was asked about a treaty on genocide, written in response to the Holocaust. It was a question that his rival was "unfamiliar with," according to Biden, and he considered the chance to "hit Boggs hard."
"I knew the treaty, and I knew the answer cold," Biden wrote. "But I knew enough in 1972 to know that nobody in the audience wanted to see Boggs embarrassed -- it would have been like clubbing the family's favorite uncle."
So, Biden feigned ignorance as well. He didn't want to be seen as "ripping somebody's head off with the facts."
Biden's low-key style at the debate was in keeping with what has been a week of relative downtime for him. Aside from Thursday's debate, Biden has been off the campaign trail since Sept. 28, when he joined Barack Obama for a rally in downtown Detroit. He hasn't appeared on his own since a rally he held in the Milwaukee area on Sept. 26.
Biden's absence can be attributed to a difficult few days for the family. His mother-in-law, Bonnie Jacobs, died Sunday after a long illness. Doctors had told the family days before to stay close to home, so Biden canceled campaign appearances on Saturday in Washington and Sunday in Virginia. The timing proved unfortunate, as Biden was also saying good-bye to his son; Beau Biden, 39, left Sunday for Texas as he prepares for a year-long deployment in Iraq.
On Friday, the day after the debate, Biden spoke to Beau and his 261st Signal Brigade at the unit's deployment ceremony in Dover. Biden has spoken at deployment ceremonies for years, but this one was surely unique for him. Rather than a lengthy speech discussing the theater of battle the unit was shipping off for, Biden -- who appeared emotional at times -- mustered just a three-minute address.
"Like all of the family members that are here today gathered on this green, my heart is full of love and pride," he said. "We take comfort in the knowledge that you are the best-trained, best-prepared group of citizen soldiers our country and this state has ever sent into harm's way."
Biden will return to the campaign trail on Wednesday in Florida.
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