It will indeed be an interesting debate. A lot of people mention how Biden acts like a bumbling old uncle type spouting off stereotypes or gaffes on a regular basis, which he does that frequently during rallies and on the campaign trail. He is however pretty decent in a debate. in 2008 debate he didn't make any major gaffes.
To break each guy down:
Biden is a very emotional speaker. He can easily play on emotion when he speaks. He is a charismatic type speaker. This may play well to less informed voters that can get caught up in the emotion he exerts. He has to be careful with this though. Biden can use a lot of political rhetoric that could get him in trouble.
Ryan is a very practical guy and conveys a lot of facts and figures. He is also good at explaining it to a less informed individual. He doesn't tend to get much involved in the political rhetoric and doesn't tend to speak out of emotion. The thing he has to be careful of is the more facts and figures he lets out the more "fact checking" the media will be able to do and then the narrative could be that he gave bogus numbers if something conflicts.
I think it will be a somewhat even night. I think Biden will come out of the gate trying to basically compliment Ryan on being a smart articulate guy in congress to get his guard down. Then I think he will say that Ryan's approach is the wrong one, and that he and Romney will ruin entitlements (medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, ect.) he will also I bet try to share personal stories to connect viewers emotionally. I think he will also try to rattle Ryan. Biden is good at hitting on an emotional level and the kind of guy that knows how to get under somebodies skin if he wants to.
Ryan however I think has always been very good at staying out of the emotional rhetoric arena and sticking to what he knows best and that is budgets and numbers. I do think that most of the time each will spend more time attacking the top of the ticket..Obama, and Romney.
Who wins? It depends on who connects the best and doesn't fumble their words. Biden is a gaffe machine but I think he will be controlled for the debate and extra careful. Ryan has to be careful to not make so many statements about specifics that it just flys over the heads of average voters. If Ryan does too much of that he won't be able to connect much on an emotional level.
Biden will have to not only bring the emotion, but have certain facts that favor Obama. Ryan will have to not only prosecute Obama on the budget, and economy but also put a little emotion in it to connect with viewers and keep things somewhat simple.
Im sure it will be a fun debate to watch. I actually am hoping that there is less of a strict moderator presence in this debate similar to the last one, because sometimes they can just get in the way if they are too strict on time limits.
