I’ll be doing that here. Check in early and often, and look for the headlines that begin with “SPIN ROOM,” because those are mine.

Wilfredo Lee/AP

Well, my first two predictions didn’t come true. But the third did: BORING.

Like I’ve said before, that’s just what these things are. Surprising to the pundits in the background are Palin’s saying she’d expand the vice presidency, her misnaming the commander in Afghanistan, her suggesting a U.S. embassy in Jerusalem (which apparently is way out there, but I’m no Mideast expert), and a senseless answer on climate change. Biden, meanwhile, could not form a sentence without the words “John McCain” in there somewhere.

The only time my interest was really piqued was when she said Obama-Biden want to “wave the white flag of surrender” by setting a date certain for withdrawal from Iraq, and then went on to say something to the effect of “We will leave when our commanders decide the Iraqi government can handle it.” Think about that for a second: In a place where we went in to get weapons of mass destruction unseat an evil dictator fight terrorists help set up a democracy — a democracy that the hawks say was necessary and one that now has an $80 billion surplus — America is going to decide when the sovereign nation of Iraq is sovereign enough to handle itself. If you were looking for “straight talk,” this is it, and it sounds absolutely insane (which is why even Bush has never said such a thing in such stark terms).

Overall, she cleared the low bar and Biden didn’t get in any real knockouts… which, ultimately, means she won.

• Sarah Palin will utter the words/phrases “hockey mom,” “reform,” “old boys’ network” and “brave soldiers” within the first 10 minutes.

• Joe Biden will realize, soon after asking moderator Gwen Ifill what she’s been up to since “227″ went off the air, that he’s made a huge mistake.

• It will be really boring. Seriously.

In the midst of a very long, very funny and sometimes very harsh reaction to John McCain’s last-minute pullout from appearing on “The Late Show,” David Letterman made this astute point:

Here’s what happens. The economy is about to “crater,” and you’re a senator, a fourth-term senator from Arizona. You go back to Washington, you handle what you need to handle. Don’t suspend your campaign! You let your campaign go on, shouldered by your vice presidential nominee. That’s what you do.

The conservative pundits who don’t spend their time “spinning” everything, but who simply analyze objectively through Republican visors, are seeing this move for what it is: A stunt, and one with no obvious upside.

(Watch a condensed version of Dave’s rant here, or scroll further for the rest of the blog entry. Note particularly, late in the clip, when they grab the live feed from CBS Evening News, where McCain found time to go on with Katie Couric. Hmmm…)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjkCrfylq-E[/youtube]

Obama got in a great dig yesterday, saying a president will need to do “more than one thing at once.” Andrew Sullivan notes that most Americans want the debate to go on:

A majority of Americans say the debate should be held. Just 10% say the debate should be postponed. A sizable percentage of Americans, 36%, think the focus of the debate should be modified to focus more on the economy. 3 of 4 Americans say the presidential campaign should continue. Just 14% say the presidential campaign should be suspended. If Friday’s debate does not take place 46% of Americans say that would be bad for America.

What, realistically, is McCain going to do, other than vote? Neither he nor Obama are on the relevant steering committees for the legislation, and their presence will only bring a lot of photographers into an already hurried and frantic situation. It’s not as if you can’t vote, then go debate.

The most straight-up, honest opinion of this I’ve read came from Politico’s Arena, where each day a number of notables, intellectuals, pundits and personalities comment on an issue of the day. This was the response from a guy named Mickey Edwards, a Princeton lecturer and former Republican congressman:

Oh, brother. What idiot came up with this stunt?

It ranks somewhere on the stupidity scale between plain silly and numbingly desperate. McCain and Obama are both members of the senate and they’re both able to help craft a solution if they wish to do so without putting the presidential campaign on hold; after all, I’m sure congressional leaders would be willing to accept their calls if they have some important insights to impart. And while one of them will eventually become president, neither one is president yet, nor is either one a member of the congressional leadership; I’m confident that somehow the administration and the other 533 members of congress will be able to muddle through without tapping into the superior wisdom and intellect of their nominees. Sorry, john; it really sounds like you’re afraid to debate. This sounds like the sort of ploy we used to use in junior high school elections. [bold mind-R]

P.S.: Apologies to any McCain-loving readers out there; I’m honestly not trying to rake your guy over the coals on a regular basis. But he (or more accurately, his campaign) continues to engage in dishonest behavior, press-bashing and cheap stunts, which happen to be a big part of the vision of this blog. When Obama’s campaign pulls this stuff, I’ll have harsh words for them, too. In the meantime, check out this clip of Joe Biden, who obviously has gotten a little dusty on his American — and technological — history:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noIfl1UcCZE&eurl=http://vodpod.com/watch/1032501-biden-rewrites-history[/youtube]

Did we mention Barack Obama has no “executive experience”?

Wednesday night seemed to be focused on two things: No. 1, making Washington seem broken (because of liberals, mind you); and No. 2, pointing to a lack of governing experience on the Democratic ticket in order to boost the (albeit minimal) governing experience of VP candidate Sarah Palin. Giuliani started out with a “job application” illustration (one that went on for far too long… in fact, he spoke so long that the now traditional biopic film about Palin had to be scrapped). War hero? Check. Reformer? Check. “Loves America”? Double check.

By this point, you’d think the crowd at the Xcel Center would be tired of hearing about McCain’s days in the POW camp. But it remains the ultimate qualification, it seems, as judged by the comments of what I humbly call the Losers’ Parade — endorsements from seemingly every candidate (except Ron Paul and Alan Keyes) that McCain defeated.

Giuliani also rolled out the bizarre insult: Barack Obama was a COMMUNITY ORGANIZER! (Palin picked up on this theme, leading some pundits to wonder whether their shared speechwriter has some strange animosity toward those who involve themselves in their communities instead of taking up a corner office.) But the style was effective: Rudy was having fun at the Dems’ expense, and the crowd ate it up. (It is worth noting, however, that during a post-speech interview with Andrea Mitchell, Giuliani himself pointed out that McCain “needed help” in the “executive” area as well.)

Preceding him, unfortunately, was the always disappointing Mitt Romney — the candidate pundits love to talk about as a darling of the conservative movement, despite his utter failure to garner any significant vote totals outside Utah. No politician in recent memory evokes such a feeling of fakery, and Wednesday was no exception.

Media bashing? Check! Absurd overkill on the term “liberal”? Check! “Executive experience” argument? Check mate!

My favorite part was his call-and-response opener: “Is a Supreme Court decision that grants Guantanamo terrorists with constitutional rights liberal or conservative? It’s liberal! … We need change all right, change from a liberal Washington to a conservative Washington!”

Would someone — anyone — please inform Mitt that Republicans have run the “executive” branch for 20 of the last 28 years, and that Congress was in a Republican majority for 10 out of the last 12? If Washington’s liberal, it’s the GOP’s fault. But let’s be fair: Even conservatives don’t care about a word Mitt has to say. Conservative blogger Megan McArdle at The Atlantic made this observation:

Mitt Romney seems to use the word “liberal” in a randomly perjorative fashion. I half expect him to say “I was eating breakfast this morning, and my hash browns were all liberal. I sent them back and told the waitress to bring me some good, conservative hash browns.

He also seems to think that giving American citizens habeas corpus rights is some sort of crazy scheme dreamed up by liberal justices intent on destroying America’s proud tradition of secret trials and warrantless arrests.

But the best was yet to come… Sarah Palin, the bulldog, the barracuda, the “hottest governor in the coldest state.” And she delivered, big-time, in a way that likely has Joe Biden searching eBay for a flak jacket.

P.S.: I missed Mike Huckabee’s speech due to an irresistable urge for ice cream. Just finished watching Huck’s speech via Youtube. It’s not even worth VodPodding. Still, here’s hoping McCain loses, and Huckabee somehow gets the nod in 2012, if only because we can really start to talk about the many merits of the FairTax.

If Bill Clinton’s speech was a barn-burner, vice presidential candidate Joe Biden’s was a bore. (Although his memories of his mother, who was in attendance and put on the big screen, were a high point — “When I got knocked down by guys bigger than me, and this is the God’s truth, she sent me back out and said ‘Bloody their nose, so you can walk down the street the next day,’ and that’s what I did!”)

[Full speech VodPodded at right.]

Biden stumbled through his speech, at one point saying that the Bush administration handed down hundreds of millions in taxes (not tax breaks, which presumably is what he meant) to Big Oil®. His rallying cries were generally met with subdued applause, and his attempted bodyblows to McCain were more likes slaps on the wrist.

Which means, apparently, that Biden must be better on the fly.

Thankfully, Barack Obama showed up afterward, a surprise appearance to warm up the crowd for today’s speech at Mile High. It was a bit strange, though… he told the masses that Hillary “rocked the house!” (!) and that Michelle was amazing… but what he certainly didn’t do was look presidential, which was supposed to be the point of the night. Instead, he came off as a sort of emcee, strutting in and urging the crowd to “give it up” (my words, not his) for the cast of characters who’d preceded him, including John Kerry (who looks more and more like a walking corpse).

Tonight’s speech, however, could provide a major boost to his campaign, provided he does what he does best — draws out Americans’ hopes — and goes light on policy pronouncements and digs at John McCain.

Side note: Why does every single Democrat on earth feel the need to preface every criticism of McCain with the words “he’s a friend” and “he’s a genuine American hero”? Smallball, I say!

The announcement came too late to get in this morning’s Daily News… First confirmation was only about two hours late, in fact. It stinks when that happens, because it makes the morning paper look more dated than it actually is, since early-risers will see the Biden story on TV, and then turn to the newspaper for a more in-depth look.

It won’t be there until tomorrow.

In the meantime, though, you may be saying to yourself, “Who is this Biden? What’s he done?” In which case, here are some links:

Biden’s slippery tongue (Politico)

Biden on the issues (NY Times)

Dirt on Biden (National Review … best taken with with a grain a salt)

Key moments in video (Huffington Post … salt suggested here, too)

Oh! And make sure to check out this hilarious clip of Biden’s sharp wit during the early primary debates:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPOAKXBi9Pw&eurl=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/23/vp-joe-biden-watch-video_n_120775.html]