Sarah Palin's Debating Skills

Andrew Halcro has an article in the Christian Science Monitor about his experience debating Sarah Palin. Halcro "served two terms as a Republican member of the Alaska State House of Representatives [and] ran for governor as an Independent in 2006, debating Sarah Palin more than two dozen times." He gives her great credit for her skill:

And she's a master, not of facts, figures, or insightful policy recommendations, but at the fine art of the nonanswer, the glittering generality. ... Palin is a master of the nonanswer. She can turn a 60-second response to a query about her specific solutions to healthcare challenges into a folksy story about how she's met people on the campaign trail who face healthcare challenges. All without uttering a word about her public-policy solutions to healthcare challenges.

The whole article is worth reading.

The Wall Street Journal makes a very similar point in their article, "Palin Proved to Be Formidable Foe in Alaska Debates".

Then, in one of the evening's final questions, she deftly turned the tables on the two men.

Asked what jobs she might have in her administration for either opposing candidate, she chuckled that former Gov. Knowles could be her official chef, while Mr. Halcro would be Alaska's top statistician.

"It was a witty answer, and funny," recalls Larry Persily, the Anchorage Daily News editor who posed the question at a debate broadcast on the state's public television network. "But it was also a put-down. Everyone knows Tony used to own a restaurant called Downtown Deli, and she was suggesting he should go back to running a lunch counter. With Andrew, she was saying, basically, 'Gee, all your facts and numbers are nice, but the voters just don't care.'"

Two years later, both men concede that they may have underestimated Gov. Palin's ease during the debates, or how disciplined she could be in staying on message. Today Mr. Knowles calls her "extraordinary elusive and unavailable to the public."

Nonetheless, he says, "She is an attractive candidate with a unique ability to emotionally connect with the audience," even as "she deals with issues by repetitive slogans."

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