The debate started, and Sarah Palin is holding her own.

I'm not liveblogging, although I might weigh in later.

9:20 -- After Biden slammed McCain's health care plan as "the ultimate bridge to nowhere," it didn't faze her. She came right back smiling, and said that McCain didn't promise one thing in one place and another in another.

9:26 -- Palin keeps coming back to McCain having been right to sound the alarm about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Stephen Green says "Biden has an easy command of the facts, even when his facts are BS."

Now Palin is asked about climate change. "There are real changes." Says she does not want to argue about why; only what to do. Stresses energy independence, alternative fuel, conservation.

Very condescendingly, Biden says it's man made.

"If you don't understand the cause...."

Please.

9:34 -- "Drill baby drill!" Unfazed by Biden, Palin says Democrats have said no to every possible form of oil exploration and development.

9:37 -- Same sex couples. Biden says they have the same rights as straight couples. Palin says she is tolerant and that visitation and contractual arrangements should be allowed. Biden says "Barack Obama and I do not" support same sex marriage. They agree that they do not support gay marriage.

Hmmm....

9:41 -- they're now talking about Iraq. Biden is a better debater, but again, she is holding firm and is not rattled. Comes back with "You said you'd be willing to run him on the ticket, and thta Barack Obama was not ready to be commander in chief."

Ouch.

Biden repeats that McCain voted to cut off funding for the troops.

Now it's Iran and Pakistan and nukes. Both recognize the danger.

But wait! I missed something important, and Ann Althouse caught it:

8:34: Palin said "Senator O'Biden."

Biden knows how to work the facts, but where it comes to theater (which is what these debates are; lets not kid oursleves) I think Palin is winning.

9:54 -- Palin gently lets Biden have it with his endless finger pointing over Bush Bush Bush being wrong wrong wrong. Smiles, reminds him of McCain's differences, and says "Change is coming!"

9:58 -- Palin is winning Drudge's poll.

"FACTS MATTER," says Biden. Blahh Blah blah. His voice is grating on me. I have to say, I find Palin's self confidence invigorating.

10:03 -- It's amazing how rattled Biden is starting to get. He sighed, as if he doesn't think it's fair or something. Keeps talking about how Afghanistan is more important than Iraq, and McCain ignored it.

She says "it's obvious that I'm not a Washington insider" and mentions being for something before you were against it. I'm sure he'e even more annoyed. Agrees with him on the need to stop genocide in Darfur.

10:06 -- Palin is winning Ann Althouse's poll, by nearly 10 to 1.

10:09 -- Biden says this is the most important election since 1932. Says he supports everything Obama says. Palin says McCain never asked her to check her opinions at the door.

10:11 -- "Joe there you go again pointing backwards!" (at Bush.) Talks about schools. Says education is lax. Emphasis should be on teaching. Ramp it up and put more emphasis on education.

10:20 -- In what I think was Palin's strongest moment so far, she endorsed American exceptionalism, the "shining city on the hill," and invoked Reagan.

Now Biden is saying how McCain is not a maverick, and ticks off endless points on a long list.

10:26 -- Sarah Palin talks credibly about bipartisanship in Alaska and working with the other side, and she really seems to mean it. She does not come across as a right wing nut. Biden says he never questions people's motivations.

10:29 -- Closing statements. Biden had the advantage of going last, but they were both good.

I'd say Palin won the visual, although Biden may have won if you read the transcript. (However, Biden's statements should be checked for accuracy, especially his claims about what McCain did and did not vote for.)

Bottom line: going into this debate, Palin had been spun as an inexperienced fool.

I think she may have changed the game.

MORE: Here's Stephen Green:

Here's my mini-wrap. If you were looking for a veep who wants, needs, to be President, then Joe Biden is your man. But Sarah Palin was the one who really manned up tonight, for unfailingly selling America on her candidate rather than on herself.

It's as if she's one of them, and maybe she is.

MORE: From the transcript, here's where I thought she did quite well:

But even more important is that world view that I share with John McCain. That world view that says that America is a nation of exceptionalism. And we are to be that shining city on a hill, as President Reagan so beautifully said, that we are a beacon of hope and that we are unapologetic here. We are not perfect as a nation. But together, we represent a perfect ideal. And that is democracy and tolerance and freedom and equal rights. Those things that we stand for that can be put to good use as a force for good in this world.

John McCain and I share that. You combine all that with being a team with the only track record of making a really, a difference in where we've been and reforming, that's a good team, it's a good ticket.

MORE: According to Peggy Noonan (who ought to know, and who repeats it twice),

"She killed."

Via Ace.

Maybe I should change the rather tepid title of this post.

Nah, there's still a month to go.

More killing please!

UPDATE: Glenn Reynolds has roundups with reactions -- including a poll which Palin is winning overwhelmingly.

I especially liked this:

...it seemed to me that both did well, and that this was a bigger deal for Palin than for Biden since the press was portraying her as some sort of airhead before. I agree with the Daily News that it was a better debate than last week's, and I was struck by how cordial Biden and Palin seemed afterward. Frankly, I think the country would be better off if both tickets were flipped. . . .

MORE: Roger L. Simon (who has a Hollywood background) has an interesting take on the body language:

He was an aging fellow (like me) forced to debate a young and much more charismatic woman who was easily his equal. You could see in his body language that he knew it.

I saw it too. Because the debate was on live television, clever editing could not save him.