Sarah’s gaffes increase interest in TV face-off

THE public clash tonight between would-be vice presidents, ill-informed newcomer Sarah Palin and gaffe-prone veteran Joe Biden, is attracting unusual attention.

Some 3,100 media credentials have been issued for the debate, the most the Commission on Presidential Debates ever needed in the seven vice presidential ones it has hosted.

The interest is driven by the public’s fascination with Palin, the first-term Alaska governor that Republican presidential candidate John McCain plucked from relative political obscurity to be his running mate.

Initially, Palin was praised as a superb political communicator for the delivery of her acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention four weeks ago. She energised the party’s conservative base, which had reservations about McCain.

But a series of shaky Palin television interviews have left even some conservatives questioning whether she is ready to be vice president. She could not describe the Bush doctrine in foreign affairs, seemed to have little grasp of the proposed financial industry bailout and even appeared to endorse Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s position on chasing al-Qaida terrorists in Pakistan.

Palin’s performance against Biden, the Delaware Democrat with 35 years in the Senate, could restore her initial appeal or seriously weaken the Republican ticket.

Last week’s Obama-McCain debate appeared to give Obama a small boost in the polls but produced no knock-out blows. So the vice presidential debate at Washington University in St Louis could be a pivotal moment.

Palin left the campaign trail on Monday to prepare at McCain’s ranch in Sedona, Arizona.

She’s been kept from nearly all contact with reporters except for a handful of network TV interviews that revealed her relatively thin grasp of foreign policy and domestic issues.

Palin’s answers have become punchlines for comedians, and a mocking impersonation by Tina Fey on Saturday Night Live has become a television and YouTube sensation.

In the CBS interview, Palin said she:

* Would not “solely blame all of man’s activities” for climate change. “But it kind of doesn’t matter at this point, as we debate what caused it,” she said. “The point is: It’s real. We need to do something about it.”

* Supports safe and legal contraception, except the morning-after pill because of her belief that life begins at conception. “I am all for preventative measures that are legal and safe, and should be taken but... again, I am one to believe that life starts at the moment of conception.”