Given all that was said before the vice-presidential candidates debate by countless bloviators, commentators and those who masquerade as political reporters but never actually stray one inch from the campaign cocoon, the most remarkable thing is that it wasn’t really about Joe Biden and Sarah Palin at all.

It ought to have been, if for no other reason that, historically, roughly one in three vice-presidents move up one slot. It was their chance to impress themselves on the country. But the names both dropped most frequently in St Louis on Thursday night were Barack Obama and John McCain, the heads of their respective tickets