Q: How do you think Sarah Palin did last night?

Bounds: We're all very encouraged. We thought it was an excellent debate. She was very clear, concise and deliberate. She made important criticisms of Barack Obama's record, talking about how Main Street folks can't understand why Washington, D.C. would be supporting, or voters would be supporting, a candidate that wants to blow out the federal budget by an additional trillion dollars after we've seen the struggles here to bail out Wall Street and Main Street with a trillion-dollar package that we're looking at Capitol Hill passing today. She made important criticisms; she came off very well. Americans got to know Governor Palin more; they're going to get to know more about her going through Election Day. And we thought, all in all, it was a home run.

Q: What did you think about Gwen Ifill's questions? Because you guys took a few shots at her before the debate about a book that she wrote that has [Barack] Obama's name in the title.

Bounds: Well, you know, we wouldn't want to be confused, the campaign here, with a lot of chatter that was out there on conservative blogs. I understand there were some people that were making sharp criticisms of her neutrality in this debate, but certainly our feeling was she's a distinguished professional. John McCain has an extraordinary amount of respect for her. I know Governor Palin does as well. She did an excellent job. She shot it straight down the middle and we couldn't be more pleased.

Q: Governor Palin looked directly into the camera, directly looking at the American people over everyone in the audience: Joe Biden, Gwen Ifill. Was that a strategy? Was it something she wanted to do or something you suggested she do?

Bounds: Well, she has an incredible asset in the sense that she has an ability to connect with the American voter, because I think -- more so than some of the other candidates in the campaign, certainly her opponent on the stage last night -- she has an ability to come to the American people from the American people. She's a middle-class working mother. Her husband had to work three jobs at a time to make ends meet. They've worked through times without health insurance; they've been small-business owners; and her experience of getting started on the PTA and working her way through government all the way to be the governor of an enormous state is something that has a unique story, and it comes across when she talks about herself and she talks about her community. So we encouraged her; she knew well enough to know that it's sometimes better just to talk directly to the American voter, directly to people that are watching their television sets, than it does to try and go through some of the filter that exists, either directionally speaking on the camera or the mainstream media.

Q: And what did Senator McCain have to say?

Bounds: He was extraordinarily pleased. I think, like the rest of us, he was wrapped up in seeing what this debate was going to look like and how it was going to turn out, and my understanding is that he had a good time watching it and we're going full steam ahead.

Q: Tucker, I have to ask you about the criticism this weekend from Bill Kristol and others about how the campaign has managed Sarah Palin, specifically all the time she spent with Katie Couric at CBS.

Bounds: Well, I think that there are going to be critics out there and certainly --

Q: Yeah, but these are your peeps! These are your own peeps there, Tucker.

Bounds: Well, you know, Bill Kristol's been quite critical of this campaign at times, and I would never question his judgment. He is certainly among the most respected and distinguished thinkers in conservative ideology. I know I have an enormous amount of respect for him. I know this campaign has an enormous amount of respect for him. But he at times is critical of us, and that's to be expected. People have an investment in seeing the success of this campaign, because the things that John McCain believes in, the things that Governor Palin has stood for, those are things that are very important to people that want to see a limited government. They want to see a more effective government and more accountability in Washington, D.C. I think that Bill Kristol is one of those people, and that's why we take his criticism seriously. But I also want to mention that I think last night, to a certain extent, proved him a bit wrong. He either has a certain school of thought that says we need to get her focused on the debate -- she took a couple of weeks down. She did have an interview that I think she probably wished would have gone a little bit differently. But here we are today; she won the debate last night. I think she proved to the American people she can stand on the stage with a veteran of the Senate, somebody that has an incredible understanding of world affairs. She can talk about her executive experience in a way that he couldn't, and the American people saw something they liked. So we're in a position of strength; Governor Palin's in a position of strength. She's going to be talking to the media more. She's already done an interview with Carl Cameron this morning and I think people are going to see more of what they saw last night, which they liked.

Q: Will she campaign separately from Senator McCain, or will we see the two of them together more?

Bounds: No, I think you'll see more of them separately, frankly, because as we approach Election Day I think strategically it makes more sense for them to be in different target states. The map is narrowing; that's always a byproduct as we close in on Election Day, for the states to narrow and the pathway to victory to narrow for both campaigns. So they'll overlap, but I think that you'll see essentially two separate campaigns on the road, with two planes that are moving from target state to target state, spreading the same message of reforming government, and actually having a record of doing it -- I think that's where the contrast we're seeing so much effective in our polling; and what we're hearing out on the trail is, "Hey, you guys are the ticket of people that want to make change, but you also have an experience of making change and reforming government." Where Senator Obama and Senator Biden, they represent more of the same, which is steep partisanship and a lot of talk without a lot of action. We need an effective government and I think Governor Palin and John McCain are the ones that can deliver it.

Q: Tucker, why did you pull out of Michigan?

Bounds: Well, we pulled out of Michigan because as we've been talking about for the last couple days since we made the announcement, this is a state that has historically performed Democratic. It has a Democratic congressional delegation, has Democratic leadership in the governor's mansion, and while we'd hoped to be able to capitalize on some voter unrest -- because we think that that delegation and that governor's mansion has failed that state, there's incredible economic adversities in the voter space there -- ultimately, strategically speaking, that was someplace where we were being aggressive and we were putting Barack Obama on defense. He was having to announce the endorsement of Vice President Gore, announced the endorsement of Senator [John] Edwards in that state. He was having to go there often to spend a lot of money, but ultimately Michigan wasn't a state that was going to perform necessarily in our column this time. So here we are, as we close into Election Day it made sense for us to move our resources effectively into different states where we're continuing to be on offense and winning. Where Ohio and Pennsylvania and Missouri are concerned, those are the states that are of serious, serious, grave importance to this campaign, and we were able to be on offense long enough in Michigan that Barack Obama spent resources that are valuable to him there.

Q: Let's talk about Tuesday's presidential debate. It will be in Nashville and it will be tough, don't you think? It's domestic issues. How are you prepping for that and what's going to be your message?

Bounds: Well, every domestic issue goes through the thoroughfare of the economy. Now I think that when we're able to talk about the economy we're able to talk about Barack Obama's plans to grow the government, grow the size of the federal budget beyond the means of everyday Americans know that our government needs to stop growing; needs to start contracting. Too many of our hard-earned dollars from our pocketbooks are going into the hands of government bureaucrats; that's not what Americans want right now. They know that the government should be working on a more limited budget, and that's where John McCain has an experience of working against bloated budgets and government glut. I think also we have higher ground to stand on when we're talking about small-business job growth because the job numbers are terrible today. It's an unfortunate announcement this morning where we saw record amounts of cinching in the job market and where the difference is, is John McCain has a plan to grow jobs, which means you need to incentivize small business to grow. That doesn't mean adding on tax burdens; certainly taking capital off the books in small businesses isn't going to grow jobs. Small business job growth has been the backbone of job growth in this country for several years; certainly in these dramatic economic times. Small business has still been the sector that's been able to add some growth. And so I think when you look at his tax scale, the way he wants to reform government to make small business grow, he has the higher ground and ultimately most domestic issues are going to go through and be seen through the lens of the economy right now.

Q: So what do you think "Saturday Night Live" is going to do with Sarah Palin this weekend?

Bounds: Well, I will be interested to see it. We're all fans here; we like to watch the weekly rundown of "Saturday Night Live" for both candidates. I think maybe they might sprinkle in a little bit of Joe Biden; the guy said 14 bald-faced lies and he's talking about going to a restaurant that doesn't even exist. I think they may have some fun with Joe Biden. I expect they'll have a little bit of fun with our candidates too, they always do. But we enjoy it, it's funny. So we'll see what they have.

Q: Thank you, Tucker.

Bounds: Thanks, Tammy.