A recent NYT article “Vice President: The Heartbeat Job” is about what it means to be a Veep today. Not enough has been made of the VP debate when Palin interpreted her potential future job’s role & responsibilities or the “Article One Smackdown” that Biden laid on her when he said that Cheney has been “the most dangerous vice president we’ve had in American history.”
In the article, Joel K. Goldstein, a law professor at St. Louis University and author of The Modern American Vice Presidency: The Transformation of a Political Institution says,

“There are so many incoming missiles that the president is really going to need help no matter how he structures his presidency. Yes, we need to know whether the vice president is ready to occupy the highest office, can handle a crisis and be trusted with the nuclear codes. But, equally important, do they have something to offer that will be meaningful in helping the next administration succeed?”

I think (hope – pray) it’s pretty clear that Biden has a lot to offer Obama while Palin has very little to offer McCain. Score one to the O ticket.
The NYT also feels that not enough has been made of how Palin responded to the Veep question in the debate. Their opinion piece Dick Cheney, Role Model is a nice read as well.