That’s how many people tuned in for the Biden/Palin debate. Making it the most watched vice-presidential debate event since 1960, which is just mindblowing. And one of the most watched election debates, period. 34% more viewers tuned in for this than for the Obama/McCain debate, although that was a pretty darn historic event, if you think about it.

What’s amazing is the multiplicity of response. It seems like Biden “won” in the response polls, but Palin’s approval ratings also ticked up. People think she’s “more prepared” after the debate, for example. From that perspective, the debate could be considered a win for her, because she met admittedly very limited expectations. By not making a total fool of herself, she apparently impressed people.

I’m heard Republicans say that she was “great,” apparently willing to ignore the fact that she didn’t answer any of the questions. Democrats are deriding her performance for the most part, and praising Biden. Independents (like me, I’m registered non-partisan!) seem to be leaning in a Biden direction. Seems to me that if you had polled people ahead of time about the debate, the outcome would be pretty similar to the responses afterward: people make up their minds before they watch these things.

And, of course, there’s lots of dissection of every sentence in the debate, but what I find interesting is that this is probably Palin’s last public appearance. I suspect that the McCain campaign is going to whisk her away somewhere for the duration of the election cycle, because she’s too much of a liability for them. Unless, of course, they decide to use Bristol’s nuptials as an October Surprise.

Which, I mean, can I just pause for a moment and say how very tacky that would be. If I were Bristol Palin, I would not be allowing my mother to use my wedding as a political tactic. It would just be too slimy and weird and altogether unpleasant. She already looks painfully isolated at public events with her mother, relegated to the sidelines with the baby and an unhappy expression. I wonder how much of a say she got in the decision to join the McCain campaign?

They hid Cheney, who turned into one of the most dangerous veeps in history. And I’ll bet they’re hiding Palin, someone who could prove equally scary in that office, if she ever held it. So let’s make sure she doesn’t, ok?