No. 1 best seller.

Goosing Oprah’s ratings.

Let’s see Joe Biden top that.

Um, okay.

The state of the vote for Vice President of the United States, as delivered to the President of the Senate, is as follows:

The whole number of the electors appointed to vote for Vice President of the United States is 538, of which a majority is 270.

Joe Biden of the State of Delaware has received for Vice President of the United States 365 votes.

Sarah Palin of the State of Alaska has received 173 votes.

This announcement of the state of the vote by the President of the Senate shall be deemed a sufficient declaration of the persons elected President and Vice President of the United States each for the term beginning on the 20th day of January, 2009, and shall be entered, together with the list of the votes, on the Journals of the Senate and House of Representatives.

Among the alternatives being presented to Mr. Obama is Mr. Biden’s suggestion to revamp the strategy altogether. Instead of increasing troops, officials said Mr. Biden had proposed scaling back the overall American military presence. Rather than trying to protect the Afghan population from the Taliban, American forces would concentrate on strikes against Qaeda cells, primarily in Pakistan, using special forces, Predator missile attacks and other surgical tactics.

The Americans would accelerate training of Afghan forces and provide support as they took the lead against the Taliban. But the emphasis would shift to Pakistan. Mr. Biden has often said that the United States spends something like $30 in Afghanistan for every $1 in Pakistan, even though in his view the main threat to American national security interests is in Pakistan.

Vice President Biden, in the Sunday NY Times:

The care with which we are carrying out the provisions of the Recovery Act has led some people to ask whether we are moving too slowly. But the act was intended to provide steady support for our economy over an extended period — not a jolt that would last only a few months. Instead of quick-hit rebates, we are giving Americans a tax cut in each paycheck. Instead of pumping out all the state aid immediately, we are spreading it over the two years that it will be needed. Road projects, energy projects and construction projects are being started as soon as they pass review, contracts are competitively bid and reporting systems are in place.

Even with such care being taken, we have already committed more than one-fourth of the Recovery Act’s total funds, and we are on track to meet the deadline set when the act was passed in February — spending 70 percent by the end of September 2010.

The Recovery Act is not the cure for all our economic ills — no single piece of legislation could be. But how many government initiatives can point to both large numbers of projects coming in under budget and a Government Accountability Office finding that we are ahead of schedule in key areas?

Somewhere in the very near future when the economy is growing at a strong yet steady pace, we’re going to look back at the people bitching and moaning about the Recovery Act not working as a very quaint and odd time in U.S. history.

Veep LOL.

Does anyone know what the Philly Phanatic’s position on Iraq is?

Let’s give Damon Weaver an event to cover in Washington in January…

‘It’s disappointing, and I hope it’s a slip of the tongue and she doesn’t mean it, but she said it. It was reported she said that she likes to visit, quote, pro-American parts of the country,’ said Biden, leading into a lengthy dissection of the remarks.

‘Ladies and gentlemen, I, like your senator and governor, have been all over this great land. I’ve never been to a state, I’ve never been to a state that hasn’t sent its sons and daughters to serve and die for this country. Right here in New Mexico right now, there are 1,400 Mexican sons and daughters — New Mexican sons and daughters deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq. Thirty-six of them have already given their lives for this country.’

‘Folks, it doesn’t matter where you live, we all love this country. And I hope it gets through. We all love this country. Folks, one of the reasons why Barack and I are running is that we know how damaging the politics of division that continues to be practiced by the McCain, how damaging this policy of division has been. It’s time to put this behind us.’

‘Folks, it is not a corny thing. It’s real. We are one nation, under God, indivisible. We are all patriotic. We all love our country in every part of this country. And I’m tired. I am tired, tired, tired, tired of the implications about patriotism.’

‘Folks, that’s the reason why Barack and I are running. We are absolutely, totally, thoroughly confident that we can get through these difficult times and like every generation before us be better for it.’

This so much reminds me of how George Bush in 2004 took great pains to attack Massachusetts since Kerry is from there – as if Massachusetts isn’t one of the states George Bush is president of.

Joe Biden won that debate. Period. Joe Biden, the real deal. Sarah Palin didn’t trip over herself but she was a talking points machine. Biden brought the heat.

Joe Biden talks about being a single father, the top moment of the debate.

Shorter Sarah Palin: I won’t answer your question. But I’ll recite this talking point.

Joe Biden puts a stake in the chest of the phony “maverick” meme.

I thought Palin asking for more power for the vice-presidency in the wake of Dick Cheney was kind of nutty.

From Obama team:

“Joe Biden won a clear victory tonight because he made a passionate case for change from the disastrous economic and foreign policies of the last eight years, and Sarah Palin defended them. While Governor Palin blindly supports John McCain’s plan for more of the same policies that have devastated Main Street and let Wall Street run wild, Joe Biden spoke clearly and strongly about Barack Obama’s plan for a tax cut for the middle class, health care that is affordable, and an end to the war in Iraq. Tonight, the American people saw why Barack Obama chose Joe Biden, a statesman from Scranton who clearly has the experience and knowledge to be a great Vice President,” said Obama-Biden campaign manager David Plouffe.

>> Palin ‘08 echoes Bush ‘00
>> Palin Botches Name Of Afghanistan Top Commander
>> Biden Dominates Debate According To CNN Undecideds

CBS Poll of undecideds gives win to Biden:

CBS NEWS/KNOWLEDGE NETWORKS POLL
(Uncommitted Voters who watched the debate)

46% of uncommitted voters who watched the debate tonight thought Joe Biden was the winner. 21% thought Sarah Palin won, 33% thought it was a draw… 98% after the debate saw [Biden] as knowledgeable (79% before the debate).

CNN debate poll:

Who won

51% Biden
36% Palin

At the end of the day the race will be about Obama vs. McCain, as it has been and as it will be.

UPDATE: From a political point of view this ad on Biden gaffes from McCain is really dumb. It basically sets up the idea that Biden will make a flub in the debate. The chances are pretty good that he won’t, due to the stakes. The McCain campaign in the last 20 days or so reminds me so much of the Kerry campaign with the random flailing.

And mint julep Fred Thompson weighs in that Palin may be overcoached, and that explains her recent clunkers. Of course, Fred Thompson was lousy in the GOP debates so this may be a little like asking me to give color commentary on the 100 meter dash.

UPDATE: Says “just because I was there doesn’t make me right” as counter to McCain’s quarter-century travelogue.

“I guarantee you, Barack Obama ain’t taking my shotguns, so don’t buy that malarkey,” Biden said angrily. “They’re going to start peddling that to you.

“I got two, if he tries to fool with my Beretta, he’s got a problem.”

Granted, the Bush doctrine is bunk, but as someone running for the vice presidency I would guess someone should know what the heck it is. “Hockey mom” with “executive experience” or no.

Joe Biden is the vice presidential candidate, who, ya know, knows stuff.

The famous biologist T.H. Huxley once said, “the great tragedy of science — the slaying of a beautiful hypothesis by an ugly fact.” That “beautiful hypothesis” is the Bush Doctrine, which has governed our national security and foreign policies since 9/11.

It has three core principles. First, the best way to protect America is to strike an enemy with military force before it strikes us, while striking fear into the hearts of other potential adversaries. Second, because military might is our single most important tool, we should marginalize anything that could get in the way of using it — like allies and international organizations. Third, democratizing the greater Middle East is the path to long term security.

“Ugly facts” have demolished the “beautiful hypothesis” of the Bush Doctrine, on its own terms.

When the phone is ringing at 3 a.m. …

After Sarah Palin’s daughter, Bristol, her teenage pregnancy, and her high school boyfriend were run through the media wringer last week, Republicans are now pointing to Joe Biden’s daughter, Ashley, to make the case, ostensibly, that no candidate has produced perfect children.

Republican sources have been circulating a 2002 news story (from the Tribune) that reported Ashley Biden was arrested for obstructing a police officer in Chicago in August 2002 after getting into a verbal spat with a cop in a late-night nightlife district. The charges were dropped after she apologized to the officer involved. Ashley Biden, then 21, was a Tulane University student at the time. She now works as a social worker in Delaware.

Of course, John McCain made dirty jokes about Chelsea Clinton, so the excrement rolls downstream.