Sarah Palin Is Under a Lot of Pressure Tonight...

Let's Hope Those Shoulder Pads Are Extra Sturdy.......

The big day is here..... the simmering keg of gasoline that is the Joe Biden and Sarah Palin debate. Grease fires could abound tonight when the guy who loves to stick his foot in is mouth meets the woman who everyone is waiting to screw up.....

While the sound bites, newsworthy foul-ups and heated exchange could be plentiful tonight, there is no doubt that all the pressure is on Sarah Palin. While things looked dandy a month ago, the media's attacks, and the McCain camp's inexplicable need to buffer Palin - which only made it worse, have everyone once again looking at Palin tonight with the same demand - Show Us Something.

This is a very odd election, because John McCain's entire campaign has been guided not by himself, but by those around him. First it was George W. Bush, now it is Palin. The Palin pick jumped his polls immediately, and as the criticisms of her have mounted, McCain's numbers have dropped. With the Wall Street bailout compounding McCain's troubles, the pressure to save the campaign once again falls on Palin's perky posterior.

Like Barack Obama in the first debate with McCain, all Joe Biden has to do is hold serve. He doesn't have to attack or go for the kill, all he needs to do is play it safe, make his points, and not screw up. Palin , on the other hand, needs to impress the nation and get those 5-8 points nationally that McCain is behind. With every day, the task gets greater: McCain is pulling out of Michigan to focus on more winnable states - and that list is getting shorter......

Can Palin pull it off? Sure. She's done it before, and she can do it again, but the bar is set higher this time.... There will be questions, and Gwen Ifill can say that she's impartial, but the lady worships Barack Obama.... It will be a challenge.

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