Neither side scored anything close to a knockout — or even knockdown — in the first and only vice presidential debate Thursday, and both sides can walk away feeling just fine about that.
The fact is that, going into the debate, each side had much more to lose than to gain in a vice presidential debate that rarely has much effect. And by the end of the night, the consensus was that both men — and, by extension, both campaigns — emerged about the same, with their bases happy and no major strikes against them.