Trailhead

After Sarah Palin's interviews with Katie Couric, expectations could not be lower. Even showing up would be a victory.*

But as usual, both campaigns are engaging in the usualcounterintuitive praise for their opponents. The best quote comes from Obamacampaign manager David Plouffe as he tried to ratchet up expectations—reportedlyprovoking guffaws from the press scrum.

"Governor Palin is one of the best debaters in Americanpolitics," Plouffe said. "If you look at her - no she is. Her 2006 debate, she knewwhere she wanted to take every question, and so I think she'll be relentlesslyon message tonight, and again I'm sure she'll have any number of biting andwitty one-liners. But our focus is on the person sitting at home in Canton, Ohio, tonight, Akron, Ohio,tonight, who's struggling economically."

* Update: The debate has begun. She is here.