Gotta work today for a change, but here are some initial thoughts while I’m waiting for all the machines to warm up and Dr. Pretorious releases the kites up into the electrical storm:

Gwen Ifill did a pretty good job, though Ace notes she did not ask a single question on any of Sarah Palin’s strongest issues – ones she might have spanked Joe Biden with. I thought it was well and fairly conducted, though. Maybe the hullabaloo over Ifill’s book had something to do with that? Morton Kondracke suggested beforehand if he was in her shoes he would be excessively fair. Anyway, I have no darts to throw at the moderator.

Too bad McCain was not there!! Biden had effective machine-gun blasts of charges about John McCain’s actions in the Senate. I’m sure no one would have expected Palin to be in a position to dive into those arguments and she wisely did not attempt to. McCain just got a great preview of what the opposition considers his biggest weaknesses.

Good work by Joe Biden. He certainly “won” the debate in that he had a lot more information at his command and scored more points – all jabs, no power shots. His delivery was excellent, I thought; probably told a bunch of lies but that’s part of the deal. I thought he came across as likable. If his charge was to do no harm as all the commentators were saying beforehand, he did his job and then some.

Sarah Palin surprised me, after what we saw in the mainstream media interviews. That lady is smart as a whip and has self confidence to spare. Clearly she does not have the massive repository of facts (or lies – let’s say “data points”) that Biden has in his quiver, but she sure held her own. Like I told my wife afterwards: It was like if some really clever person off the street came in to debate me about the business I’ve been in for 19 years, spent a week studying and then I could not put them away in the debate.

I think she surprised Biden also, in the way she came back time and time again with effective, substantive ripostes when he must have been thinking “Surely she won’t have a response for this.” She had a month to prepare and everyone else in the contest has been at it for years. Not too shabby.

Palin was able to control the discussion when necessary and ensure some of her key issues were discussed – most importantly, grabbing the steering wheel from Ifill and launching into the discussion of energy independence. At times it became a little tiresome towards the end when Palin reverted to a talking point – though Biden did the same thing almost as frequently, so she lost no points for that. She should, however, expunge the word “again” from her vocabulary because reverting to a talking point is annoying enough; no use telegraphing it.

But if anyone was wondering “does this woman have what it takes to grow into the position of U.S. president – really quickly if necessary?” there is no doubt the answer is “YES.” She is a stunner. She is going to be a force in American politics no matter what happens in November.

What will really matter, of course, is what happens in public opinion the next few weeks. Sarah Palin just ensured that the McCain ticket will not lose because of her. She definitely enthused Republicans and probably took some heretofore uncommitteds who will be charmed by the fact she is quite the “regular guy” persona – a huge change from what we usually see in Washington. She might not have made much of a dent among the Zimzo demographic, but she’s going to bring some votes with that personality.

Now it’s up to John McCain to make his case to the American people.