The debate really highlighted the planning that went into both candidates approach to the debate. Biden never once attacked Palin - that was completely off limits for him, instead he attacked McCain and Bush constantly. Palin obviously was all about highlighting their records, and specifically ignored Biden attacks except to (I think) mock the "looking back" and negetivity of Biden.
Overall Biden had more detailed and thoughtful responses, but nobody expected otherwise. I'm not sure how this will play out next week in the polls. Could go either way. It depends on whether or not Palin impressed enough and how the Biden attacks played. I think in general Biden won on substance, but I'm not sure that was what was important in this debate. Palin definitely showed she's not an idiot, which was a strong win on her part.