In 2008, when Sarah Palin entered the stage to debate her fellow vice presidential candidate, Joe Biden, she asked him first thing: “Hey, can I call you Joe?”

It was a charming moment. In Palin’s aw-shucks manner, she not only neutralized Biden as a formidable foe but reminded folks watching at home that she was just a gal from Wasilla, Alaska, who liked to keep things simple and personal. It may have been the only brilliant line to come from the then-governor of Alaska that night.

In reality, the reason she asked to call him Joe was because during debate preparations, according to her memoir, she had called him “O’Biden.” Obama, O’Biden, get it? Finally, her team advised her to just call him Joe.