The pit bull is back, and she can still bite.
Sarah Palin, the GOP's self-proclaimed "pit bull in lipstick," threw off her muzzle in Thursday night's highly anticipated vice presidential debate and took more than a few chomps out of rival Joe Biden and Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.
Striding confidently out on stage, the Alaska governor reached across to Biden and set the folksy tone early.
"Nice to meet you," Palin said as the crowd welcomed the two combatants. "Hey, can I call you Joe?"
The faceoff came on what started out as a rough day for Republican nominee John McCain, who Thursday pulled staff and advertising out of Democratic-leaning Michigan in what amounted to a GOP surrender in the Wolverine State.
But with expectations so low headed into last night's first and only vice presidential debate at Washington University in St. Louis, Palin seemed to win by not losing.
She spoke in complete sentences, unlike her performance in several prior TV appearances. She parried Biden's jabs and often pivoted into areas like energy and taxes, both within her comfort zone.
And she cast herself as the fresh face in the race for the White House - and Biden as the Beltway insider.
"With all due respect, I do respect your years in the U.S. Senate," she told Biden, a 35-year veteran of the Senate. "But I think Americans are craving something new and different, and that new energy and that new commitment that's going to come with reform."
Biden got off his own shots. He reminded viewers that McCain had called the fundamentals of the economy strong as recently as last month, as Wall Street imploded.
"That doesn't make John McCain a bad guy," Biden said. "It does point out he's out of touch."
And he argued that McCain's health care plan, which calls for relieving employers of health care mandates and providing families with $5,000 tax breaks instead, would actually reduce benefits for millions of Americans.
"I call that the ultimate Bridge to Nowhere," quipped Biden, a reference to the $400 million Alaskan bridge that Palin supported until it became a national symbol of pork barrel waste.
With tens of millions tuning in, the stakes could not have been higher for the Alaska governor. After a week of shaky interviews - and polls showing the GOP ticket in a nosedive - the debate was her biggest, best chance to prove she has the stuff to be vice president and possibly President.
The Alaska governor looked more tense than her more experienced, more sure-footed Democratic rival.
But she also used every opportunity to chop big issues down to size by relating them to everyday moments between everyday people.
When asked about the country's uncertain economy, Palin suggested that people talk to a parent at "a kid's soccer game" on any given Saturday, a ritual known to millions of Americans.
"I betcha you're going to hear some fear in that parent's voice," she said.
As for the $700 billion bailout package that the House shot down once but is expected to take up again today, Palin called for the "Joe Six-packs" and "hockey moms" of the nation to join together in the future.
"I think we need to band together and say never again," Palin said.