VP debate: Economy, Iraq take center stage in St. Louis

ST. LOUIS -- Vice presidential candidates Sarah Palin and Joe Biden sparred Thursday about economic policy, pursuit of the war in Iraq and the records of their party nominees in an eagerly anticipated debate that included humor, emotion and sharp elbows.

Palin, the Alaska governor and running mate of Republican John McCain, and Biden, the Delaware senator and pick of Democrat Barack Obama, faced off in their only debate. It was the eighth matchup of vice presidential nominees since the first such meeting in 1976.

The debate at Washington University in St. Louis — coming a day after the Senate overwhelmingly passed a $700 billion rescue package for Wall Street — quickly focused on the nation's financial meltdown.

Biden repeatedly tried to tie Palin and McCain to the unpopular Bush administration and the current economic crisis that has threatened credit markets worldwide.

"The economic policies of the last eight years have been the worst economic policy we've ever had," Biden said. "The wealthy have done very well. Corporate America has been rewarded. … Barack Obama will change it."

Palin, meanwhile, praised McCain's call in 2006 for greater oversight of mortgage giant Fannie Mae and blamed "predatory lenders" for the financial fears of Americans current crisis. "Go to a soccer game on Saturday, turn to any parent on the sidelines and ask them how they feel about the economy," Palin said. "I bet ya you're going to hear some fear."

Biden charged that McCain was slow to recognize the magnitude of economic problems, calling the Arizona Republican "out of touch." And he said McCain's opposition to oversight for Wall Street contributed to the cascade of bad lending at the heart of the meltdown.

Both candidates claimed the mantle of change for their tickets, with Palin saying she and McCain are known "for putting partisan politics aside." She cast the GOP nominees as reformers who would get government out of the lives of ordinary people. Biden, meanwhile, said he and Obama would "make significant changes so that we are once again the most respected nation in the world."