The Rise of Joe Biden

Sarah Palin is getting headlines, but after-polling shows the quieter Democrat winning over independents and Republicans in last week's VP debate.

The Pew Research Center reports: "Biden’s favorability rating among registered voters re-contacted over the weekend climbed from 54 percent to 63 percent, and the percentage believing he is qualified to serve as president jumped to 77 percent from 69 percent a week earlier...

"Among Republicans interviewed both before and after the debates, 14 percent changed their view of Biden from unfavorable to favorable, as did 12 percent of independents. By comparison, Biden had little room to gain among Democrats, 81 percent of whom already viewed him favorably before the debates."

Meanwhile the Palin phenomenon seems to have leveled off as "voters who had been first polled a week ago found that most (55 percent) continue to have a favorable view of Palin, but most (52 percent) also still believe that she is not qualified to serve as president, if it becomes necessary."

These figures, registered before Palin started her "palling around with terrorists" attacks, may not stand up as CNN analyst Bill Schneider makes a prediction about tonight's McCain-Obama encounter:

"If either of the candidates tries to go negative when you're with an audience of ordinary voters, they don't like it. We've heard them sometimes get very upset when the candidates start attacking each other, so that's going to be hard to do in a town hall format."

Despite the cheering partisan crowds, Palin will have to put a lot more lipstick on her pit-bull act to overcome that kind of voter disgust.