Biden, Palin trade jabs in fight for middle class

"Americans are going to say enough is enough with your ticket constantly looking backwards and pointing fingers and -- and doing the blame game," she said.

Biden replied that "past is prologue."

"The issue is, how different is John McCain's policy going to be than George Bush's? I haven't heard anything yet," he said.

Palin's novelty was on full display: Rarely are debates at this level peppered, as Thursday's was, with references to Saturday soccer games and casual phrasings like "I'll betcha," "darn right" and "doggone it." She winked repeatedly, and often uttered remarks in a sing-song lilt more often heard in a children's classroom than on the national stage.

The experience gap was evident throughout. While Biden riffled easily through policy matters, Palin often resorted to platitudes, at one point telling Biden and Ifill that she "may not answer the questions" the way they wished.

The format did not allow the same back-and-forth that marked this election's first presidential debate last Friday, but the outlines of the same basic disagreements were evident: Palin painted the Democrats as tax-and-spend dinosaurs and her ticket as one that would crack down on Washington. Biden portrayed the Republicans as a third Bush administration and his ticket as one that would restore America's international reputation.

"Barack Obama and Sen. Biden also voted for the largest tax increases in U.S. history," Palin said. "Barack had 94 opportunities to side on the people's side and reduce taxes, and 94 times he voted to increase taxes or not support a tax reduction -- 94 times."

"That charge is absolutely not true," said Biden, who at times appeared to be working hard to disguise his consternation. ". . . Using the standard that the governor uses, John McCain voted 477 times to raise taxes. It's a bogus standard."

Palin occasionally got lost in the thickets of rhetoric, as she had in a series of high-profile interviews in the last week.

"That is not so," she said of Biden's statement that McCain did not support provisions to help homeowners facing bankruptcy. "But that's just a quick answer. I want to talk about, again, my record on energy versus -- your ticket's energy -- ticket, also, I think that this is important to come back to, with that energy policy plan, again, that was voted for in '05."

The candidates had a rare moment of unity on the subject of gay marriage, though Palin was more emphatic about her opposition while Biden hit hard on his reluctance to deny same-sex partners equal civil protections.