The debate is in the history books, and who exactly was the winner is being debated. All the liberals resoundingly give victory to Joe Biden, while conservatives are applauding Sarah Palin as the clear winner. Of course, it depends on how you judge the performances.

Biden was projected to trounce Palin, and many were holding their breath and waiting to see Palin fail. Instead, she exhibited a composed demeanor, and on many occasions she seemed to have Biden against the ropes. Biden exhibited a masterful command of facts and figures and showed himself to be a skillful, and somewhat typical, politician. A few times he looked clearly flustered as Palin scored with lines that echoed the populism of Ronald Reagan, such as "there you go again, Joe."

Biden probably came in higher in points, but came in lower than expected in performance. Palin scored higher in likability, and exceeded expectations and beat her point spread by a mile, making her the winner in my book.