By Staff
Winking Sarah Palin flirted with the entire nation during her vice presidential debate with Delaware Democratic Sen. Joe Biden Oct. 2 in St. Louis.
Not only that, she didn't wink once, but six times, according to body language expert Patti Wood, author of "Success Signals," who counted six.
There's already a Web site, www.palinwink.com, spooling them suggestively until it feels like porn with oodles of pithy comments that have been posted.
The Huffington Post set a montage to the Neal McCoy country song "Wink."
Wood told the Oct. 4 Chicago Tribune that Palin was slyly conveying with her "collusive winks" that she and her non-elitist middle American base know they are in this together apart from the traditional political arena.
A wink is a bond, like sharing a secret with someone that makes them feel special.
President Bush winks from the podium, but usually at a specific audience member because they imply mutual affection.
So how did winking at the entire audience of 69.9 million viewers work?
They scored well among men, according to focus groups.
Wood thought the Alaska governor overdid it.
"Two winks would have been perfect," Wood said.
The pit bull in lipstick, of course, is the reason most of us tuned in on the night the McCain campaign conceded Michigan to Obama.
The first presidential debate in Oxford, Miss., between Barack Obama and John McCain, attracted much less of an audience, 52.4 million, although it was on a Friday night, when there are distractions such as high school football.
According to Zogby, likely voters said Biden won, 50 percent to 41 percent, over Palin.
His ticket, headed by Obama, enjoyed a four-point lead over McCain and Palin, 48 percent to 44 percent.
Like the first presidential debate between Obama and McCain, just 4 percent said they changed their minds about whom to support in the election because of the debate.
The lone meeting between Palin and Biden ranks as the second most-watched political debate of all time after the sole 1980 encounter between President Jimmy Carter and challenger Ronald Reagan, watched by 80.6 million people.
68: Percent who don't believe the typical poll accurately reflects public opinion.
Quips, quotes and qulunkers: "I've been hearing about his Senate speeches since I was in, like, the second grade."
– Palin on Biden
" We have simply, as a nation, never had a moment like this, in which the American people voted such a stunning no-confidence in America's leaders in a time of real and present danger … (T)he fact that (the second bill) has morphed from three pages to roughly 450, and is festooned with favors, will do nothing to allay public suspicion about the trustworthiness of Congress."
– Peggy Noonan,
Wall Street Journal
"Obama stubbornly remained himself through the tough times; his preternatural calm has proved reassuring in both the economic crisis and the the first debate … His demeanor has rendered foolish all the rumors about his alleged radicalism. This guy is the furthest thing imaginable from an extremist. McCain, by his own admission, is the bomb-thrower in this race."
– Time political columnist
Joe Klein
Obits: Actor Paul Newman and Osborn "Oz" Elliott, who became Newsweek's editor at age 36 after the Graham family, owners of the Washington Post, bought the magazine in 1961.
He left journalism in 1976, but later served as dean of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
Dejuiced: The major league home run rate dropped to a 15-year low of 2.01 homers per game from 2.04 last season.
That's the lowest rate since 1.78 in 1993. The high, 2.34, was reached in 2000, according to Sports Illustrated.
The Cubs thankfully imploded, they just took longer than the Tigers.
In addition to the end of Yankee Stadium, we're losing $28 million Shea, which opened April 17, 1964. It was home to the '69 Miracle Mets, Broadway Joe Namath's surprise third Super Bowl-winning Jets and a memorable 30-minute 1965 concert by The Beatles.