Excerpts/Grades for Halperin's Veep Debate Report Cards

Palin:

Substance: "In a debate of mostly general questions, never chose to be any more specific than necessary."

Grade: B-

Style: "Her days of intense rehearsal were apparent, but she was much smoother than in recent media interviews when unspooling pre-canned lines and opinions."

Grade: B+

Offense: "Kept up a drumbeat of criticism against Obama and, to a lesser extent, Biden – but produced no soundbite moment and was unable to rattle her opponent."

Grade: B

Defense: "Didn't always directly answer the questions asked her, but deflected and hedged with offhand subtlety."

Grade: B

"She had a sold ninety minutes of rapid, confident discourse and kept herself from being the story of the night..."

Overall: B

Biden:

Substance: "Offered more detail on a range of topics, compared to Palin, but oddly, gained no particular edge from his greater familiarity with national and international issues."

Grade: B+

Style: "Serious, grave and humorless."

Grade: B-

Offense: “Came more in sadness than anger in deriding his long-time colleague [McCain]...”

Grade: B

Defense: "Was careful not to lose the upper hand when confronted with Palin's confident charisma."

Grade: B

"A solid performance without fireworks, which may best serve the Democrats at this moment."

Overall: B

Read full report cards on Time.com: Palin's here and Biden's here.