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This week, on Thursday, their running mates will take the stage. For many of us, we heard Democrat Joe Biden debate in the primaries. McCain's running mate Sarah Palin, on the other hand, has not been on a national debate, this will be a chance for her to show what she has to offer the American electorate. While the presidential candidats have two more debates (one in Tennessee on October 7, the other in New York on October 15), the vps will only be debating this once.

Gwen Ifill , one of my favorite journalists/pundits will be the moderator at the debate which will be held at the Washington Uni in St. Louis. 

So on Thursday, I will be liveblogging here. I don't know if you have heard about Tom Hayden (perhaps you know his ex-wife, actress and activist Jane Fonda?) Anyway, Hayden, also an activist- anti-war, civil rights and student activism- will be speaking at my alma mater that evening (details here), so I will be liveblogging from there, and will share the reactions from other Americans. 

Meet me here on Thursday. The debate is on October 2nd, at 9pm US Eastern (GMT-5). You can set a reminder below.  See you then.

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Governor Palin has only been on the ticket for 5weeks. Save for her acceptance speech at the Republican Convention, Palin had never addressed a national audience. In that respect, she did not fail at this debate. On the other hand, Palin failed to answer questions presented to her by the moderator Ifill. 

It was feared that Senator Biden would come off as patronizing and sexist during the debate. He proved his critics wrong: he held himself back, and did not attack Palin. Unfortunately, he did not question Palin's record at all. It was as if the debate was between him and McCain. He did, however, continually call McCain out on several policy issues. My favorite part of the debate was when Biden said this of McCain and his being a maverick:

 Look, the maverick -- let's talk about the maverick John McCain is. And, again, I love him. He's been a maverick on some issues, but he has been no maverick on the things that matter to people's lives.

He voted four out of five times for George Bush's budget, which put us a half a trillion dollars in debt this year and over $3 trillion in debt since he's got there.

He has not been a maverick in providing health care for people. He has voted against -- he voted including another 3.6 million children in coverage of the existing health care plan, when he voted in the United States Senate.

He's not been a maverick when it comes to education. He has not supported tax cuts and significant changes for people being able to send their kids to college.

He's not been a maverick on the war. He's not been a maverick on virtually anything that genuinely affects the things that people really talk about around their kitchen table.

Can we send -- can we get Mom's MRI? Can we send Mary back to school next semester? We can't -- we can't make it. How are we going to heat the -- heat the house this winter?

He voted against even providing for what they call LIHEAP, for assistance to people, with oil prices going through the roof in the winter.

So maverick he is not on the important, critical issues that affect people at that kitchen table.

The liveblog section is now closed. Please post your reaction to the debate in the regular kI comment section.

POSTDEBATE NOTE:
Thank you for everyone who participated in tonight's liveblog. It was wonderful! Unfortunately, some kI readers were not able to access coveritlive (the liveblog). It seems that many other sites were using the software, as a result we could only have a limited number of users here on kI. We are looking into it.

For those who missed the debate entirely, here is a transcript.

Please join us next week for another liveblog on Tuesday when Senators Barack Obama and John McCain meet at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. It will be moderated by NBC's Tom Brokaw.

October 7: Presidential Debate at 9pm US Eastern (GMT -5).