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WASHINGTON -- (UPDATE 2) The campaigns of rival White House hopefuls Thursday rushed to claim victory after the first and only vice presidential debate between Democrat Joe Biden and Republican Sarah Palin.
"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," said Obama campaign manager David Plouffe.
"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."
Plouffe described Biden, 65, a foreign policy expert and veteran of Congress, as a "statesman ... who clearly has the experience and knowledge to be a great vice president."
The McCain campaign touted Palin, 44, who spent most of the debate looking straight into the camera as she spoke and occasionally winking, as "direct, forceful and a breath of fresh air," said communications director Jill Hazelbaker.
"Tonight, Governor Palin proved beyond any doubt that she is ready to lead as Vice President of the United States. She won this debate, putting Joe Biden on defense on energy, foreign policy, taxes and the definition of change," she said.
"The American people saw stark contrasts in style and worldview. They saw Joe Biden, a Washington insider and a 36-year Senator, and Governor Palin, a Washington outsider and a maverick reformer," Hazelbaker said.
During the debate, Palin accused her Democratic rival of waving a "white flag of surrender in Iraq" as they clashed over the war.
The two candidates, who both have sons being deployed to Iraq, had some of their sharpest exchanges of their only debate in the 2008 White House race over the bloody conflict now in its sixth year.
"Your plan is a white flag of surrender in Iraq and that is not what our troops need to hear today that's for sure," Palin rebuked Biden on the stage at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.
"It's not what our nation needs to be able to count on. You opposed the surge. The surge worked. Barack Obama still can't admit the surge works," she added, referring to the Democratic presidential hopeful.
"We'll know when we're finished in Iraq when the Iraqi government can govern its people and when the Iraqi security forces can secure its people," said Palin, whose oldest son Track deployed to Iraq last month.
"Our commanders on the ground will tell us when those conditions have been met. And we are getting closer and closer to that victory that's within sight."
But Biden said the Republicans were not offering a plan to end the conflict, triggered by the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003, which has now cost the lives of some 4,000 US troops.
"I didn't hear a plan," Biden shot back. "Barack Obama offered a clear plan. Ship responsibility to Iraqis over the next 16 months. Draw down our combat troops."
Biden, whose son Beau is due to deploy to Iraq on Friday, said: "This is a fundamental difference between us, we'll end this war. For John McCain there's no end in sight to end this war. Fundamental difference. We'll end this war."
And he added: "Barack Obama and I agree fully and completely on one thing. You've got to have a time line to draw down the troops and shift responsibility to the Iraqis.
"We're spending $10 billion a month while Iraqis have an $80 billion surplus," Biden said, arguing it was time for the Iraqi government led by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to shoulder its responsibilities.
At one point, Biden choked up as he recalled his tragic personal story.
"The notion somehow because I'm a man I don't know what it's like to raise two kids alone, I don't know what it's like to have a child you're not sure is going to make it," he said, before his voice cracked and he paused to compose himself.
"I understand, I understand," he said.
Just weeks after his election in 1972, his first wife Neilia, and 13-month-old daughter, Naomi, were killed in a car accident. His sons Beau and Hunt were badly hurt.
He was sworn in at the hospital bedside of one of his sons and still refuses to work on December 18, the day of the accident.
Before the debate, discussion had centered on how the veteran Biden would deal with his younger, less experienced female opponent, with fears among Democrats that he would appear bullying or condescending.
Biden was responding to comments from Palin about her connection with the heartland of America through her experience of "being a mom, one very concerned about a son in the war, about a special needs child, about kids heading off to college, how are we going to pay those tuition bills?"
The debate opened with the Alaska governor under pressure to quell questions about her knowledge and experience.
"Nice to meet you, can I call you Joe?" Palin said, in a comment picked up by microphones as she walked on stage and shook hands with her adversary.
Biden returned the compliment as he answered his first question about the $700-billion Wall Street bailout up for a vote in the House of Representatives on Friday.
"Governor, it's a pleasure to meet you," Biden said.
Millions of viewers were expected to tune in to watch the 90-minute debate, to see the two rivals stand at podiums and parry question from PBS public television anchor Gwen Ifill.
Concern mounted about Palin's readiness since she stumbled in several interviews on foreign policy, the economy and the Supreme Court.
She has faced widespread ridicule for some of her answers, including citing Alaska's proximity to Canada and Russia as valid foreign policy experience.
McCain on Thursday again defended Palin, telling CNN: "She's very comfortable in her own skin.
"I'm very confident about her credentials and her vision and her strength for America and so I'm very proud of her.
"The fact is she'll do fine tonight. She has experience, talent, leadership. She has great inner strength."
Some political analysts and experts said Palin was facing her most crucial test just 33 days before Americans vote.
"This could be what seals the deal. If she does extremely well or extremely poorly, obviously it will be the debate that people say defines Sarah Palin's candidacy," Washington University history professor Peter Kastor told Agence France-Presse.
Palin wowed the Republican convention in early September with her speech, and the devout Christian, pro-life, moose-hunting mother-of-five reenergized the party's conservative base reluctant to embrace McCain.
But her star has been fading amid a string of controversies and her stumbling performances in the few media interviews she has granted.
She hit back however in an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt.
"Oh, I think they're just not used to someone coming in from the outside saying, You know what? It's time that normal 'Joe Six-Pack' Americans are finally represented in the position of vice presidency," she said.
"And I think that that's kind of ticking some people off-guard and they're out of sorts and they're ticked off about it."
It is only the second time in US history that a woman has taken part in the vice presidential debate, following that between Democrat Geraldine Ferraro and Republican George H.W. Bush in 1984.
