While Sen. Joe Biden was omnipresent in the minutes and hours after Friday’s debate, helping TV viewers understand what they just saw, Gov. Sarah Palin was nowhere to be found. Pity, per Time’s Nancy Gibbs:

Post-debate spin would have been a natural for her; a chance to be sharp and funny and charming and not worry that some interviewer would ambush her, since any pointed questions aimed at her could be brushed back with a breezy, “Hey, I have to wait my turn; tune in next Thursday. Tonight was John’s night.”

The upshot? “[W]ith each passing day, Palin’s road gets harder, the expectations higher, the margin for error smaller.”

So, expectations for Palin are on the rise as Thursday’s debate nears, per Time.

Or not, per a “Future Election Headline” imaged by Daily Show writers in EW:

PALIN EXCEEDS EXPECTATIONS IN VP DEBATE: REMAINS UPRIGHT, DOESN’T DROOL