PD EDITORIAL: VP debate

<p>The office of vice president is often disparaged, even by those who have held the post. But this job is important.</p><p>Nine times in U.S. history, vice presidents have replaced presidents who died in office or resigned. Three of the last 11 presidents didn't finish their terms.</p><p>So the primary question for viewers of tonight's vice presidential debate is straightforward: Is Joe Biden prepared to be president? Is Sarah Palin?</p><p>Each faces a slightly different test.</p><p>Palin captivated voters with her speech at the Republican convention a month ago, introducing herself as a tight-fisted reformer while jabbing Barack Obama with a smile. But recent weeks haven't been so kind.</p><p>Serious doubts remain about the Alaska governor's grasp of national and international issues, and she followed the presidential debate by contradicting John McCain's stated views on Pakistan. Palin's handful of interviews have provided easy fodder for late-night TV, and this week a conservative columnist suggested she withdraw.</p><p>She could change some of those negative perceptions tonight. Palin's aides say she's a quick study, and she needs to give direct, cogent answers that show a command of economics, national security and foreign affairs.</p><p>Biden's challenge is Biden's tongue.</p><p>His resume is impressive: 35 years in the Senate, serving as chairman of the Judiciary and Foreign Relations committees. Two presidential campaigns. Sponsor of the 1994 crime bill that included funding for 100,000 new cops.</p><p>But few people in public life seem as gaffe-prone as the senator from Delaware.</p><p>In the past month alone, Biden has mused aloud that Obama would have been better off choosing Hillary Clinton as his running mate, urged a Missouri state official in a wheelchair to "stand up, let the people see you" and described Franklin Roosevelt's televised response to the stock market crash in 1929 (of course FDR wasn't president, and no one had television yet).</p><p>Tonight is the electorate's best chance to hear Biden and Palin address the financial crisis and the bailout plan pending in Congress, the wars in the Middle East and the threat of terrorism. While they will mostly echo the views of their respective running mates, this is their opportunity to show knowledge, substance and discipline.</p><p>In less than five weeks, one of them will be elected vice president, a job that entails presiding over the Senate and performing tasks for the president. But, most important, the winner will be a heartbeat away from the Oval Office.</p>