Amy Schatz of the Wall Street Journal tweets:

If it goes really, really badly tonight could a VP candidate still drop out?

Schatz then links to June Krunholz’s post on WSJ Washington Wire, which opens:

What would happen if either Joe Biden or Sarah Palin decided after, say, a mediocre performance in Thursday’s debate to withdraw from the campaign and spend more time with the family? Washington Wire put the question to election-law experts. Their answer: No problem.

Krunholz goes on to cover the relevant legal ground for replacing a VP pick now. But let’s be clear, “Joe Biden” appears in her first sentence only as a requisite placeholder.  No one is expecting a performance so catastrophic that Biden would be forced to drop out. Hell, short of pinching Palin’s ass or exposing himself on national TV, I don’t think it is even conceivable that Biden would commit a verbal gaffe so damaging that he could no longer be on the ticket.

Palin, on the other hand, is a different story. The only reason two Wall Street Journal reporters are researching and speculating on what would happen if a VP candidate dropped out is because it is a conceivable reality with Palin. She has bombed every interview with the press in spectacular, if horrifying, fashion.  The fear isn’t mediocrity, it’s the continuation of her propensity to reveal in toto her lack of preparedness for the office she seeks. With Palin, a mediocre performance would be a huge step forward.

No, these questions are being posed because Palin is dancing along the cusp. She is hurting McCain.  And up against an incredibly qualified opponent in Joe Biden, Palin may walk away from tonight as the modern Republican Party’s biggest goat. From Day One I’ve thought Palin was at risk of being dropped from McCain’s ticket. We shall see if tonight’s debate is the straw that breaks the camel’s back.