Last night’s vice presidential debate highlighted key differences between the two tickets vying for the White House. This morning on The Brian Lehrer Show, Nation editor and publisher Katrina vanden Heuvel applauded Joe Biden for attacking his opponent's regressive politics, on issues from abortion to foreign policy. Moreover, she contrasted Biden’s refreshing sharpness with last week’s seemingly uninterested Obama. “Joe showed up,” vanden Heuvel said, “There was heat and there was heart.”

—Steven Hsieh

For more debate analysis, read John Nichols' on Ryan's "secret plan."

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