All I know is we had a forum full of Freepers who were cocksure that either (a) Biden would drop out of the debate, (b) Biden would fall on his face sometime during the debate, or (c) produce a whopping list of gaffs the media would have no choice but to report. None of this happened, although some might argue (c), but good luck getting that to the voters trying to decide whether they'll vote or not.
(d) Biden's team added to low expectations (lids, drug talk, potty breaks), knowing he could at least stand up for 90 minutes with minimal drooling so that the media could declare victory.