This week, while Joe Biden was wandering around Home Depot, mumbling to himself in the third person, Sarah Palin must’ve been cracking the books, running through flash cards with a campaign adviser, and trying out some of Ron Burgundy’s articulation warm-ups, because she gave a stellar performance in tonight’s Vice Presidential Debate. It was undeniably clear to me which candidate won this one, and I think tomorrow’s headlines will agree with me (unless Katie Couric writes them).

While Biden didn’t give a laughable performance, I was taking notes, and I found numerous arguments whose holes I could walk through. And I’m a big gal. For instance, one of the moments that will perhaps be reported as Biden’s strongest, was when he spoke of his family’s financial struggles in his childhood and gave a quick synopsis of his rags-to-riches story. I don’t deny his sincerity. But what baffles me is that he can use this history as justification for his policies when, in actuality, it is a perfect example of what the Republicans stand for: you can make success out of any circumstances. Even in his closing statement, Biden quoted his father saying, “Champ, when you get knocked down, get up.” But according to Biden’s party, the anecdote should go: if you get knocked down, stay there whining until the government comes and gives you soup and a band-aid. It’s backwards.

I also failed to see the difference between Biden’s pride and go-getter attitude when questioned about being “an interventionist” and the sole purpose of what we’ve been doing in the Middle East. He wants to save people and bring freedom to Darfur, but as his current outlook on Iraq and Afghanistan would lead us to believe, he’ll probably lead us in (as he did with his vote in favor of the War on Terror) and lead us out prematurely (as he’s trying so hard to do now).

On the other hand, Sarah Palin brought back the fire we all saw in her when she spoke at the RNC. Over the last couple of weeks, I was starting to lose my infatuation with her because she had some poor interviews, first with Charlie Gibson and then with Katie Couric. I thought that Sarah was fading, fumbling. But tonight in her closing statement, she commented on how she was happy to one again be able to talk to the American people “without the filter of mainstream media.” It occurred to me that that was the problem. She, in and of herself, is wonderful, and has gotten a bad rap from liberal media, tainting even initially strong supporters like me against her.

It’s easy for a Republican candidate to play the Victim of Media Bias card, but this argument, in Sarah’s case, was legitimized when the first reaction from Katie Couric on CBS was, “at least she didn’t embarrass herself.”

Palin was real. She was relatable and honest, and even as Biden tried to convince us that McCain was the out-of-touch candidate, next to Palin, he looked just like the old-school, white-haired, nothing-new Senator he was degrading. Whatever Palin may lack in government experience she more than makes up for in Middle-American life experience. If the everyman is who we’re after, she’s the pony to bet on.

My favorite differentiation between the overall statements of each candidate was the line between past and future, and who was on which side. Claiming to be the ticket of change, all Biden did was criticize Bush policies. The party’s only claim to the White House this time around in one man’s past blunders. Palin made it clear exactly what she and McCain want to do to initiate changes in our country, and she was able to make the distinction between their ticket and the Bush/Cheney regime without stepping on any Republican toes. In each of their last words, Palin looked forward, and Biden was still looking back. And at his age, necks don’t turn so easily.

Whenever given the opportunity, Palin had a beautiful rebuttal to whatever Biden had to spit out. My favorite was when, after Joe discussed the 16-month removal plan, Palin took a moment, breathed, smiled and shook her head, and said so matter-of-factly, “your ‘plan’ is a white flag of surrender.” The Republicans watching in our dorm’s basement lounge cheered for her, already knowing at this mid-point of the debate, that she was the victor.

I could divulge further into an answer-by-answer recap of what each person said and why Sarah’s was consistently superior, but you can watch the debate and have Palin do that for herself. I’m just so tremendously overjoyed that our girl’s back and, with her, our party’s hope for electoral victory.

But I’d like to end with a yarn about two of my friends and their post-debate reception. They traveled up from the basement to the first floor lounge, where the Democrats had gathered to watch the debate. When they walked in—silently—someone asked, “So, do you guys think Sarah won?” They nodded, and out flooded attacks and venom from several persons present. One girl went so far as to say, “I can’t even be in the same room as them,” and she walked out, mumbling something about closed-mindedness. Now, I’m not upset that they thought Biden won. Maybe he did. But they failed to provide any concrete and relevant evidence, and they dismissed all rules of common courtesy. So I’m giving you all this chance: if you thought Biden won, don’t yell at me for thinking the contrary, tell me why. And, if you know some of the attackers from the lounge I’m talking about, consider passing your information onto them so that they don’t make such fools of your party again.

On a possibly unrelated side note, someone keeps drawing (and labeling) vomit on my dorm door’s whiteboard. If this is in reference to my political swag, again I say hats off to another well thought-out argument. Thank you.