Opinion: Sarah Palin puts her hand out minutes after the debate ends

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Whether or not she held her own against Joe Biden, Sarah Palin won the post-debate dash for money.

She also proved to be quicker than her running mate.

It took the Republican vice presidential nominee less than 15 minutes after her debate with Biden ended before she sent out her first fund-raising appeal. John McCain waited about 25 minutes to make his plea after last week’s debate.

Of course, Barack Obama and Biden’s pitches followed.

Palin’s Dear Supporter e-mail, sent on behalf of the Republican National Committee, landed at 7:44 p.m.

She opened by bashing the “liberal media.” And in the first paragraph did it again, saying the debate gave her the “opportunity to bypass the biased media filter.”

Then she bashed the media again: “I’m asking you to ensure we have the resources necessary to compete with the Obama-Biden Democrats and their liberal media allies in races across the country.”

Then the letter attacks Obama-Biden and the Ohio early voting system, and warned that “they’ll do anything to win this election.” To stop them, Palin asks for ‘your generous contribution of $25, $50, $75, $150, $250, $500 or more.’

Biden sent his pitch out shortly after 10 p.m. In his email, Biden said Palin gave a ‘spirited defense of the same disastrous policies that have failed us for the past eight years.’

If Americans want change, the reasoning goes, they ought to give him some dollars. He’d settle for $5 to ‘bring out the change we need.’

-- Dan Morain