The Iowa Independent hit the nail on the head when it comes to the Biden/Palin debate:

Palin’s forced folksiness falls flat in VP debate
By Douglas Burns 10/3/08 12:53 AM

For her part, GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin – speaking with the programmed cadence of a GPS navigation system — used forced folksiness to deliver crammed material in the manner of a high schooler looking to score a good grade on a Spanish test. The kid may escape with a B-minus, but he wouldn’t be able to order a cup of coffee in Spain a week later...

With weird winks and homespunisms, Palin worked in several “you betchas” and “darn rights” and even a “shout out” to family in an effort to appeal to just folks.

As a small-town Iowan I didn’t find it genuine at all. She actually talked down to us, figuring that references to hockey moms and the hacknayed phrase “Joe Six Pack” and her self-application of the word “maverick” would hold more sway with than a discussion of the issues...

Remarkably, Biden, thought to be the coldblooded product of two many years in the U.S. Senate, had the most genuine moment of humanity in the debate when he briefly choked up about car accident three decades ago that claimed his first wife and a daughter and left his sons injured.

“The notion that somehow, because I’m a man, I don’t know what it’s like to raise two kids alone, I don’t know what it’s like to have a child you’re not sure is going to — is going to make it — I understand,” Biden said.

Forced, condescending "folksiness" vs. genuine, honest, caring intelligence. That was the core of the debate from the eyes of the Iowa Independent.