Well, that’s about as real a moment as you’re going to get from a candidate, giving a “hello” to her brother’s third-grade class, which is watching for extra credit. Jonathan Martin pegs it as a moment her haters will hate, and Ben Smith compares “shout out” to the Gen-X language Obama’s been using on the stump for two years. In her closing statement, Palin also uses the phrase “back in the day.” The two candidates have tried desperately to out-regular-guy each other, with Palin several times making reference to her families and their small businesses, and Biden even tearing up over the struggle to raise children on his own. Sound bite of the night: “Oh, say it ain’t so, Joe. There you go again. Your whole question is premised on the Bush administration, and doggone it, we need to look forward.” Update: The Frank Luntz focus group on Fox is overwhelmingly in favor of Palin. Most of them are even saying they now think she’s “qualified,” when they did not before the debate. The focus-group dials went off the charts during Palin’s discussion about personal responsibility, and Luntz predicts the debate will really make a difference among voters in either moving independents to McCain, and at least stopping the McCain fall in polls.
