I am glad and appreciate that Biden stayed on topic and objective, and mostly ignored the antics of little snarky Shirley Temple ... and went after McCain.

As I think about the cutesy way Palin behaved all night, it seems that her primary self-awareness is more akin to that of a dazzling celebrity limited to someone else's wisdom rather than a thoughtful politician speaking with depth.

She was in effect doing her version of a Paris Hilton kind of political discourse but in reality was nowhere near being in the same ball park with Biden.

And managing to stay engaged only so long as she could lean very very very much on the talking points someone else had crafted for her.

I prefer that Biden stayed away from getting caught up in her winking "I'm such a pill" kind of snarkiness. I'm glad he seemed content to let her stay in her rah rah cheerleader mode all night ...

... while he - with less celebrity sizzle but much much more demonstrable depth and ability to think on his feet - illustrated very well how the blend of experience and wisdom matters most.

And his repeated appeals to voter's civic responsibility stood out in stark contrast to the lack of civic message in what Palin was told to tell her voting base.