The highly anticipated faceoff in St. Louis between the Alaska Republican governor and the Delaware Democratic senator didn't produce the expected fireworks as Palin held her own on policy matters and Biden avoided verbal gaffes, The Washington Post (NYSE:WPO) said in a commentary.

Palin won points for folksiness and Biden scored for competency on the issues, the Post said.

Both vice presidential candidates achieved their respective campaign's goals for the debate, the commentary said. Palin showed she could hold her own, cast GOP presidential candidate Sen. John McCain as a "maverick" and pointed up differences on several issues between Biden and his party's standard-bearer Sen. Barack Obama. Biden argued that Obama is an agent of change and that McCain would offer a third term of U.S. President George Bush's policies.

A New York Times (NYSE:NYT) editorial said the debate "did not change the essential truth of Ms. Palin's candidacy: Mr. McCain made a wildly irresponsible choice that shattered the image he created for himself as the honest, seasoned, experienced man of principle and judgment. It was either an act of incredible cynicism or appallingly bad judgment."