American election campaigning often seems like a soap opera. In the past week it has produced some laugh-out-loud moments that would grace a top-rated comedy show. Chief among these are two Republican claims: that less than two years of being governor of Alaska gives Sarah Palin the experience needed to be the proverbial heartbeat away from the presidency; and that John McCain’s team properly vetted the moose-hunting hockey mom before unveiling her as his running mate.

Ms Palin’s nomination gives a new twist to the campaign debate about experience. At one level it neutralises the Republican attack on Barack Obama, that he is too inexperienced to be heading for the Oval Office when just four years ago he was merely a state senator in Illinois.