Pit-bullfighting, with lipstick

She committed no major mistakes, and delivered a livelier and more rhetorically compelling performance than Biden, 21 years her elder, who appeared most comfortable playing the role of grizzled Senate committee chairman. Where Palin talked of parents nervously discussing the economy at their kids8217; soccer games, Biden invoked obscure legislative amendments while talking about lessons learned from a late Senate majority leader. But while Republicans will surely declare victory in the debate and breathe deep sighs of relief, major questions remain for the GOP ticket.

At a moment when the country is racked by terrifying economic forces, the question facing Palin and her running mate, Republican presidential nominee John McCain, is whether her unusual presence will help the GOP gain enough public confidence to win next month8217;s election.

As she put it herself during an exchange with Biden about Iraq, 8220;Oh, man, it8217;s so obvious that I8217;m a Washington outsider and someone just not used to the way you guys operate.8221; Voters are paying unusually close attention to Palin, not only because she is the first woman to run on a national Republican ticket but because she is so new to national issues. She would be next in line for the presidency behind a man who would be 76 by the end of his first term. Early polls conducted by major television networks showed Biden winning the encounter 8212; a suggestion that, unlike the 2000 and 2004 elections that took place in good economic times, this year8217;s election could be won by the ticket that shows the most substance and an ability to grapple with complex problems. Still, coming after the Alaska governor8217;s shaky appearances on CBS News, in which her flailing answers were ridiculed on Saturday Night Live and elsewhere, Thursday night gave her a chance to show that she could speak knowledgeably about serious topics.

She turned the conversation repeatedly to energy, an issue she has dealt with as governor of an oil-producing state. Potentially erasing memories of her widely mocked efforts to claim foreign policy expertise based on Alaska8217;s proximity to Russia, Palin talked about preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons. She repeatedly mentioned the president of Iran by name, and even talked about having a conversation with former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger.

But she spoke of foreign policy in the broadest of strokes, adopting rhetoric about spreading freedom around the world that is the core of the so-called Bush Doctrine that, in one of her network interviews, she did not seem to understand. And on Iraq, she hewed to years-old attack lines of painting war critics as quitters and accusing Obama of trying to deprive the troops of funding. Biden, in one of his strongest points in the debate, shot back that the Republicans were offering no plan to end the Iraq war. 8220;This is a fundamental difference between us. We will end this war,8221; Biden said. 8220;For John McCain, there is no end in sight to end this war.8221;

Biden, for his part, successfully avoided his pitfalls of appearing overbearing or patronising. He referred to her by her formal title of Governor. The main attraction on Thursday, though, was Palin, who used her most-anticipated appearance yet to introduce Americans to her style, which mixes conversational language and sharp elbows. Though Palin and her husband, Todd, enjoy comfortable incomes, she presented herself as another victim of the fiscal crisis. She said that people can 8220;learn a heckuva lot of good lessons8221; from the mess. Go to a kids8217; soccer game, she said, 8220;and I8217;ll betcha, you8217;re going to hear some fear in that parent8217;s voice, fear regarding the few investments that some of us have in the stock market. Did we just take a major hit with those investments?8221;

The pressure on Palin to succeed 8212; or merely to avoid a meltdown 8212; was made more intense by the flurry of new polls this week showing the Republican ticket falling behind in several key states, including Ohio and Florida, where McCain was believed to have the edge.

On Thursday night, Palin staked her claim as a representative of middle America and 8220;Main Streeters like me.8221; Biden too claimed a familiarity with everyday struggles, talking of his working-class roots and tearing up at the memory of the car accident that killed his first wife and daughter 36 years ago. But Biden8217;s fluency with national issues may have allowed him to make the more compelling appeal. With the stock market in flux and initial jobless claims on Thursday hitting a seven-year high, voters may decide that they want more in a vice president than someone like themselves.