Veep Debate: Battle of the Sexes?

Sept. 30, 2008— -- For vice presidential nominees Sarah Palin and Joe Biden, the stakes at Thursday's debate are high, but Biden has the added challenge of how to best be Barack Obama's attack-dog without coming off as a chauvinist bully.

Palin, on the other hand, needs to recaputure the voter appeal she engendered when she was first named as running mate to Sen. John McCain. And she must somehow steer clear of the gaffes and rambling responses that she offered in interviews with ABC's Charlie Gibson and CBS' Katie Couric.

On Thursday, Sen. Biden, D-Del., and Gov. Palin, R-Alaska, will square off for their first and only head-to-head debate in St. Louis, Mo.

In a historic election that has both transcended long-held American prejudices and brought them to the fore of the country's consciousness, many observers will be watching the debate not just to hear what is said but to hear how it is said.

The Democrats -- fresh off their own contentious primary season in which Sen. Hillary Clinton routinely accused the media and her opponents of an insidious sexism, and hoping not to further alienate woman voters -- are carefully prepping Joe Biden.

Biden, pundits and politicians say, must tread carefully, seeking a middle path in which he can attack Palin on the issues without coming off as sexist or bullying.

"Joe Biden is a smart guy, but he is going to have to be particularly careful of how he comes across," said Tori Clarke, an ABC News political consultant and former Pentagon spokesperson. "There is always the expectation when it comes to Joe Biden that the unexpected can happen. He has to be very careful."

In recent weeks Biden has sought the advice of Democratic Sens. Clinton, Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein to get tips on how to best debate Palin without appearing to be sexist.

The senator has tapped Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm as his sparring partner. She will play the role of Palin in practice debates, and presumably help refine his sometimes caustic style.

[Palin's] going to try to make it as personal as she can. She's going to take a lot of straight lefts and jabs at me, she's going to try to get me to respond, she's going to try to get me to respond in a personal way," Biden said at a fundraiser in Chicago earlier this month. "That's not my style. I'm not going to do it."

The idea that pitting a male politician against a female politician would necessarily result in claims of sexism seems itself, well, sexist.

But in the 2000 New York U.S. Senate debate between then First Lady Hillary Clinton and Republican Congressman Rick Lazio, the talk was not about what Lazio said but how he said it.

At a September 2000 debate in Buffalo, Lazio was pilloried and labeled a "sexist" for crossing the stage from his lectern to Clinton's and challenging her to sign a pledge prohibiting the use of unregulated campaign contributions known as soft money.

Eight years later Lazio says he understands why people interpreted his historic stage-cross the way they did, but says there is a "double standard" in the way male politicians are allowed to debate other men versus the way they are expected to speak to women.

"In 2000, when I challenged Clinton to uphold the pledge, on substance it was a fair point. Approaching the podium was a mistake, and I should have been more sensitive to how the audience saw that," he said.

"The political lesson is that even when a female opponent is fully able to respond to a debate challenge, a male politician needs to temper the things he says and does so as to not be misinterpreted," he added.

Lazio said Biden "needs to adjust his approach. Palin is very likable. People admire her background and ability to rise to prominence and maintain a normal life. If I were advising Biden, I would tell him to remain respectful, be self-deprecating and use charm and humor."

Lazio said the political climate has changed since 2000, and the public is more willing to see a woman challenged by a man on the merits of what is being debated.

Geraldine Ferraro, the first female vice presidential candidate, agreed with that sentiment, saying Palin had to worry more about herself than Joe Biden.

"It is not the same as when I debated George Bush in 1984. Twenty years ago there was one woman in the Senate. Joe Biden is used to debating women. He won't attack her; it's not his style," Ferraro said.

Palin, the darling of the Republican Party just three weeks ago, has in the past week made a series of blunders, most recently in an interview with CBS News' Katie Couric. Even a few members of her own party and conservative pundits have chastised her and called on her to step down.

"Sara Palin has a real problem," Ferraro said. "I say this as a woman who is very concerned. I want her to do well because I don't want anyone to say that as a woman she can't stand up to a man. But really she has got to debate herself. If the Sara Palin of the past week -- the Palin of the Katie Couric interview, the Palin who has no grasp of the issues -– shows up to the debate, she is going to have trouble."

The best counter to sexism is a woman who comes off as strong, smart and informed, said political consultant Clarke.

"The McCain campaign has misused her from the very beginning. She is not like everyone else," Clarke said. "She is a real person that understands American families and what they need. We saw that at beginning when she would speak off the cuff, but she has been so tightly controlled that she can't do what she does best. Instead of being straightforward, she is giving these tortured answers about seeing Russia from her house."