So, I was going to do a play-by-play restating of the debate but I really don't have time today.  Got people out at work and tonight's a date night, but maybe some other time.  So here's the short version:

Moderator: Please answer [question].
Biden: Certainly.  [answer].
Palin: Instead let me talk about [some canned, unrelated statement]
Moderator: Senator, your reply?
Biden: Well, that's not true because of [reasonable rebuttal]
Palin: ...

And repeat.

Sorry, I was hoping for better, but it was objectively pretty bad.  Not enough to change my vote but I can't imagine it's going to win a lot of thoughtful, independent voters to the GOP.  I don't believe anyone can "win" a debate like this - the media's insistence on granting one that status aside - since it's never a real debate but just talking points back and forth.  Still, if someone could win the debate, it would be Biden.  Which sucks, but what can you do?

Part of the problem too is that each of these four candidates represents a different point on the likable/knowledgeable spectrum.  To illustrate:

	Platitudes	Real Policy
Likable
Unlikable

6:45 PM	Leesa's home with the girls. I need to attend to dinner for a few more minutes so she's getting them changed into sleepers and ready for bed. The plan is to let them play some on the floor while we eat to get them nice and tired. Then give them a bottle until they're drowsy and send them to bed.
6:55 PM	Ok, that plan worked about as well as it always does. They're too tired to play. So it's bottle time. Lately I've gotten good at keeping dinner warm and sanitary for hours.
7:10 PM	Feeding them now - I have Kate. We're going to swaddle their legs at first just to keep them from constantly waking themselves up by kicking. They can still flip over if they need to, unlike if we did their arms too. Not that they can't flip over with their arms swaddled, but the concern is they'd only be able to do it once...
8:00 PM	Ok, the girls are fed and both asleep (guess that counts as "drowsy"). So here we go...
8:15 PM	The girls have been in their cribs for about 15 minutes now and they're quiet. Natalie stayed asleep for the most part when we put her down but Kate cried some.
9:00 PM	They've awakened a couple times but settled down after 5 minutes or so. Now they're both up and screaming like crazy. Leesa's going to go in the other room so she doesn't have to listen to it. This is probably the worst screaming I've ever heard out of them.
9:45 PM	Kate has fallen asleep but Natalie is still wide awake and screaming her head off. She is actually on her hands with her head up and sometimes even hitting the frame of the crib.
9:55 PM	Well, Natalie's been quiet for 5 minutes now. Maybe she's gone to sleep.
10:05 PM	Still quiet. Maybe I should go check and see if she's ok. They have the movement sensors in their cribs, but I had to turn her sensitivity up some since she kept moving away from the pad.
10:15 PM	Ok, I checked on them. They are both sound asleep on their bellies, looking very physically exhausted. We'll see how long that lasts.
10:20 PM	Leesa's gone to bed and I think I'll follow.
Sleeping (3 hours, 10 minutes)
1:30 AM	Awakened by crying. It's just Natalie - Kate's still asleep. I'm going to feed her and put her back.
2:00 AM	6 ounces later, Natalie's gone back to sleep. I laid her down and now she's crying again. I think. Problem is there's no way to tell which one is crying so I'm not sure when to feed Kate.
2:05 AM	The crying's stopped. Leesa's pretty sure she can tell who's crying and will tell me when it's Kate. I'm going back to bed.
Sleeping (1 hour, 55 minutes)
4:00 AM	More crying. Leesa says it's Kate. I make another bottle and go upstairs. Sure enough, she's right as always. Kate's diaper has leaked some so I change her sleeper and give her a new swaddle blanket for her legs.
4:25 AM	Kate's done eating and fallen asleep - as have I once or twice. There's either something wrong with our TV our the audio levels of the latest House episode because I can't understand half of what they're saying. Falling asleep may not help much either, I imagine.  Natalie's cried a few times over the last half hour but never more than 30 seconds or so. I've put Kate to bed and am now going myself.
Sleeping (2 hours, 5 minutes)
6:30 AM	Awakened by the alarm clock. The freaking alarm clock. That hasn't happened in a long time. One of the girls is fussing a little but not really crying.
6:35 AM	Upstairs now with today's clothes. Natalie has a leak again, so that's another swaddle blanket down. Definitely going to have to do a load of their laundry today.
6:45 AM	Downstairs with two dressed girls watching Backyardigans while Leesa gets ready to leave with them in about 15 minutes. All together a pretty painless process, actually. Total sleep time is 7 hours, 10 minutes, which is an incredible amount. I suspect some of our earlier failures were due to trying it on naps instead of actual night sleeps. Tonight, too, might present more challenges, but at least Leesa will be able to help more tonight since she works from home Fridays. Hopefully, though, they've gotten past the initial fear and they'll be sleeping easily in their rooms from now on.

After many false starts and struggles, tonight is the night that the girls begin sleeping in their own beds and not in their bassinets in our bedroom.

Last night, Natalie managed to turn around onto her belly while completely swaddled - arms too.  Then today Kate managed to flip over a bouncer (a what?) while she was inside it.  So it's no longer a matter of convenience, it's become unsafe for them to stay there.

So, yeah, probably a long few nights ahead of us because they don't like their beds and are just remarkably stubborn (for some reason).  But hopefully when we're done they'll be sleeping on their own, upstairs in their own beds, without the need for swaddle blanket, vibration device, white noise machine, blackout shades, and all the rest of the baby sleep-aids.  You know, hopefully anyway.