More on the Expectations Game

Yesterday, I wrote about the asymmetrical expectations for the VP debate. I've got more on what to look for tonight in my latest piece in the Guardian:

When it comes to issues like crime, Afghanistan and the right to privacy, he is more than happy to show you that he knows his stuff. But I also think he may talk a bit about the Biden family values, as he did in his speech at the Democratic National Convention: "You know, my mom taught her children - all the children who flocked to our house - that you're defined by your sense of honour and you're redeemed by your loyalty." I certainly expect him to find a way to mention his son, Beau Biden, Delaware's attorney general, who is shipping out for Iraq as a captain in the Judge Advocate General Corps. He might do it by offering kind words for Track Palin, who is also being deployed to Iraq.

Yes, Biden can expound at length on policy. But he has been known to lay it on pretty thick when it comes to the Biden clan, and show that Democrats have family values too.