SARAH

Posted at 7:15 a.m. ET

The poll results following last night's debate are pretty much what we'd expected - Biden won on substance, Palin on everything else.  Palin was the star, Biden the experienced debater.  People talked about Palin after the debate.  Biden was the other guy.

Sarah Palin saved John McCain's campaign once again, just as she saved it by being that electric figure who thrilled the conservative base of the Republican Party at the convention.  No, she didn't have Biden's knowledge, and no one could say, after the debate, that she was the most "qualified" to be vice president.  But she reached people and moved them.  The Washington-Ivy League axis may hate her, but I'm reminded of the old political explanation for why New York City has rent control - because there are more tenants than landlords, and the tenants vote.  There's a big country out there, and very few of its residents went to Princeton or work inside the Washington beltway.

Sarah won by not losing, and she did more.  Again, she became the most talked-about of the four candidates, this time for doing well.  Gone was the Sarah of the sit-down interviews.  Back was the Sarah we loved.

I don't know if her performance will move the McCain/Obama preference polls.  Voters may have a second thought and lean toward the more experienced Biden over the more exciting Sarah.  Also, the mainstream media will spin this the way it's spun everything else this season, and continue its in-the-tank-for-Obama "reporting."

But Sarah has given McCain breathing room.

The question is:  What does John McCain do with this moment?  Had Sarah collapsed, the race would have been over.  She's provided a relaunching platform for the remainder of the campaign. Now McCain must seize the chance.  He's got to come alive again, take Sarah with him and go on a nationwide whistlestop tour.  The two together are dynamite.  The two apart are far less effective.

I'm sure McCain understands that Sarah is the star attraction.  A national train tour will be a great show, and that's what McCain needs right now. 

Apparently, Sarah was prepped by the McCain A-team.  That A-team does good work.  I hope they've got the next stage planned right now.  This race can be turned around.

October 3, 2008.