KEY POINTS:
Anyone who thought there would be blood on the tracks from a train wreck will have been disappointed.
Governor Sarah Palin, at least temporarily, staunched the bleeding of the Republican campaign with a warm and competent debate performance against Joe Biden.
And the notoriously loose-tongued Senator resisted the temptation to tap dance on his tonsils, appearing statesmanlike, reassuring and knowledgeable.
Following a series of disastrous ABC and CBS interview clips which became instant YouTube comedy classics, the heat was on Palin to show she deserved to play in the big time. She didn't quite achieve that.
Palin spoke with the energy and directness that marked her appearance at the Republican Convention - rather than the scrambling hesitancy that greeted Katie Couric's softly delivered but persistent questions.
She handled the issues reasonably well, delivered a few jabs in a fairly disarming way and probably connected comfortably with many voters - her practised 'hockey mom' folksiness laid on thick. "Say it ain't so, Joe!" she said at one point.
The dizzy, incoherent caricature that was threatening to smother her has been batted back, for now. The problem for Palin is the time is wrong for her.
She's clearly promising and sharp and tough enough to have a future as a national and international politician. But she came across as an appealing leader of a small state, not as a convincing potential vice-president or president of the United States.
And while Americans may be in a fed-up-with-politicians mood, there's still the chastening figure of George W. Bush in the Oval Office to remind them that special qualities are called for to tackle a stinking dung hill of problems.
When measured against Biden, who spoke from a well of experience and knowledge, the gulf was wide.
At least Palin has rehabilitated herself enough not to be an active weight on her ticket. But the overall picture is of a race that could be spinning out of John McCain's reach.
Barack Obama's national lead is five or six points. He is now leading in most of the battleground states, including Florida and Pennsylvania. Even North Carolina, which gave Bush a resounding 12-point victory (twice), is responding to Obama's wooing.
The concern for the Republicans will be the consistency - perhaps hardening - of the messages pollsters are hearing: The economy is voters' big concern and they trust Obama to handle it better than McCain.
Pollsters Rasmussen say: "Obama leads 63-32 per cent among voters who name the economy as the top voting issue. McCain leads 74-24 per cent among those who say that national security is the highest priority. Fifty per cent of voters say the economy is most important while just 19 per cent see national security that way."
Of course anything, including a major security crisis, could still happen. But the race is being run on Obama's turf. McCain's challenge is to beat him on it or change the territory.
