The choice of a vice president has rarely affected the outcome of the presidential race. But for the past week, Sarah Palin has been the draw of the Republican ticket so much so that her Democratic opponents often seem flummoxed as to what to do with her.
MELISSA BLOCK, Host: This is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Melissa Block.</s>ROBERT SIEGEL, Host: And I'm Robert Siegel. John McCain is catching up and in some surveys surpassing Barack Obama, that according to the latest polls, with about 50 days to go before the election. And tonight, ABC will more of Charlie Gibson's interview with Sarah Palin. The Alaska governor's addition to the Republican ticket has transformed the presidential campaign.</s>MELISSA BLOCK, Host: At a campaign stop in Dover, New Hampshire, today, Obama made clear he's aware of those concerns.</s>BARACK OBAMA: Here's what I can guarantee you, that we are going to be hitting back hard. We have been hitting back hard, but we're hitting back on the issues that matter to families.</s>MELISSA BLOCK, Host: John McCain was on the ABC show "The View" this morning, talking up, who else, Sarah Palin.</s>JOHN MCCAIN: She's ignited a spark in America and sometimes different views, but the fact is it's gotten people engaged and involved in the political process. It's good for America; she's good for America in my view.</s>ROBERT SIEGEL, Host: Well typically, presidential elections have been about the top of the ticket. NPR's Mara Liasson wonders if this year may be different.</s>MARA LIASSON: Sarah Palin could be the exception that proves the rule about running mates, that they rarely make a difference in the outcome of the race.</s>JAMES CAMPBELL: We know that they don't matter and that they don't have a direct effect on the vote, at least we have no evidence that they have a direct effect.</s>MARA LIASSON: That's political scientist James Campbell from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Not since Lyndon Johnson brought his home state of Texas to the Kennedy ticket in 1960 has a vice- presidential candidate mattered. Campbell cites poorly received choices for vice president: Dan Quayle for instance, whose ticket won; those who performed well, Lloyd Bentsen in his famous debate with Quayle and still lost. But Campbell says running mates can have an impact.</s>JAMES CAMPBELL: They have an indirect effect by changing how people may think of the presidential candidate.</s>MARA LIASSON: And that's what Sarah Palin appears to have done for John McCain.</s>JOHN MCCAIN: And when I say that I'm so happy to be introduced to you by Governor Palin today, but I can't wait until I introduce her to Washington, D.C....</s>MARA LIASSON: There was once another vice-presidential pick, Geraldine Ferraro, who was also a big hit for the first few weeks but ran aground over questions about her family finances. And says Campbell, it remains to be seen how Palin will fare over time.</s>JAMES CAMPBELL: And a lot of this is still unknown. She's made a terrific first impression, I think certainly on Republicans, and I think also on swing voters. I mean, Democrats have been put off guard by this and in some cases have been very shrill in their attacks on her, which I think has also helped her.</s>MARA LIASSON: One thing the Palin pick has done is to flummox the Obama campaign, which hasn't seemed quite sure how to deal with her. Here's Obama's chief strategist, David Axelrod, On Fox News Sunday.</s>DAVID AXELROD: This ultimately isn't a race between us and Sarah Palin. It's a race between Barack Obama and John McCain. They're the candidates for president.</s>MARA LIASSON: But if the idea was to avoid engaging Palin directly, Obama hasn't always followed the script. Here he is on CNN, contrasting his executive experience to hers, choosing to focus on her tenure as mayor.</s>BARACK OBAMA: Governor Palin's town of Wasilla has, I think, 50 employees. We've got 2,500 in this campaign. I think their budget is maybe $12 million a year. You know, we have a budget of about three times that, just for the month. So I think that our ability to manage large systems and to execute, I think, has been made clear over the past couple of years.</s>MARA LIASSON: There is one member of the Obama team, however, who says he knows how to handle her, and he's the only one who will have to face her one on one, on October 2 in St. Louis.</s>JOE BIDEN: Folks, it's 2008. I - there are an awful lot of very, very, accomplished women holding high public office that I debate, and we beat up each other every day in the United States Senate.</s>JOE BIDEN: Try debating Barbara Mikulski. Try debating, you know, try debating Barbara Boxer. Try debating Olympia Snow.</s>MARA LIASSON: And then Biden said.</s>JOE BIDEN: Are there pitfalls? Yeah, there are pitfalls. If two people with different genders or different races or different ethnicities debate one another, there are pitfalls. You worry about - you may say something, either person may say something that comes off the wrong way, but...</s>MARA LIASSON: Sounds like Joe Biden is both confident and a little wary of his upcoming debate with Palin, who at least so far has done what few vice-presidential candidates have other done: shake up the race for president. Mara Liasson, NPR News, Washington.