"Never let them know your true strengths." We've all heard that before, and my theory is that that is exactly how Sarah Palin went into the VP debate this week. Before that debate, she was considered an underdog and was expected to perform poorly. Joe Biden was worried about looking too tough on her, and was advised to focus on the top of the ticket and not appear "mean." The consensus was that she was in over her head, and had little chance of performing well.

I believe that this was all a calculated effort by the McCain campaign. Now that the debate is behind her, Sarah Palin will now take off the kid gloves and bring back the pitbull behind the lipstick. By her appearing in over her head before the debate, the Obama campaign was caught off guard in the debate. And now that she doesn't have to worry about another face off with Joe Biden, she can start doing what a VP candidate should be doing: attacking the top of the opposing ticket. And Obama has plenty of dirty laundry for her to focus on.

I expect her to stop talking about John McCain as much as she did before the debate, and start talking more about Barack Obama and his associations with Ayers, Wright and Pfleger, as well as Obama's own questionable actions and statements. indeed, she already has; in her interview with Carl Cameron, the first post-debate interview, she brought up Obama's comments about our soldiers "raiding villages," and "killing people." In another post-debate statement she accused him of "palling around with terrorists." By avoiding this topic of conversation before the debate, she has cleverly avoided a tough grilling by Joe Biden. Now that any opportunity for Biden to be directly tough on her is past, expect her to start baring her teeth.

Democrats, you've been Punk'd.