senator, Barry Goldwater, was crushed by Lyndon Johnson, in 1964.

Yet that defeat was the making of Ronald Reagan, who stole every right-wing Republican heart with his speech for Goldwater in the party convention that year. Two years later, Reagan was governor of California. Twelve years later in 1976, he was challenging an incumbent Republican president, Gerald Ford. In 1980 he won the presidency.

More than once last night I thought Palin must have been watching re-runs of Reagan's speeches, though decades of deference to Hollywood tycoons made Reagan far more respectful of Wall Street than the Alaskan Governor, who even presumed to introduce the antique phrase "working class" into the debate. Her first national political run may have only a month to go, but last night she won herself a long-term political future.

Alexander Cockburn will cover the final presidential debates between John McCain and Barack Obama on October 7 and 15.