Never before in the history of the US presidential elections has a vice-presidential debate managed to invoke such widespread interest as Thursday’s much-hyped ‘match up’ between Democrat Joe Biden and Republican Sarah Palin. This exceptional election year has sprung up yet another surprise – it is expected that the TV audience of tonight’s only debate between the vice presidential hopefuls will surpass that of the first showdown between John McCain and Barack Obama.

Another interesting piece of information is that this will be only the second time a woman nominee has faced a man in the vice-presidential debate arena. Obviously then, Thursday’s vice-presidential debate has the potential of being either a smack-down or a train wreck.

It may be the ugly side of human nature, but regular Americans, political pundits and academics who make their living dissecting just such media events are more than keen and can hardly wait.

Both Palin and Biden have had their problems – Palin’s inexperience has come out in recent interviews, and Biden is known for gaffes and verbosity. No wonder for most people who comprise the expected audience the common questions - Can the newcomer Alaska governor show gravitas? Will the talkative Delaware senator make a gaffe?

Sarah Palin is, in fact, the chief reason for all the hype about the debate. When John McCain picked the Alaska governor to be his running mate, she became an overnight star. The pro-gun, anti-abortion mother of five ignited the conservative base. But, in the past month, Palin has blown some important TV interviews, aiming at an image-makeover. All of this and more sets the stage for Thursday night.

Janet Flammang, chairwoman of Santa Clara University’s political science department, opines: “Everything is up for grabs. I think voters like the fact we have two straight talkers, which is sort of fun, and we haven’t heard much from Palin. And they both come across as authentic people. More recent vice-presidential and presidential debates have been so wooden and scripted. This one could be very different.”