Based on her interviews with Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric, it's obvious Sarah Palin's head is filled with lots of rightwing attitude but virtually no facts. For parts of her Couric interview, Palin needed McCain sitting by her side to throw her lifelines.

Obviously McCain won't be next to her tonight. To make up for it, will Sarah Palin rely on an earpiece - just as George Bush did in the 2004 debates (first uncovered by Dave Lindorff in Mother Jones) and for 3 years afterwards? And if she does, how will we know?

Over at HuffPo, Keith Thomson did some great research and uncovered some surprising facts.

• The CIA has equipped its agents with earpieces since the 1970's. (Guess who ran the CIA in the 70's? Yup, George H. W. Bush.)
• State-of-the-art earpieces (visit http://customearpiece.com) can send radio signals over 4,000 channels, which makes it hard to detect.
• The Commission on Presidential Debates employs a Frequency Coordinator who uses a spectrum analyzer to detect radio signals. ("Sarah, what's the frequency" might not be a joke.)
• Infrared signals cannot be detected by a spectrum analyzer, and they can deliver sound right to the target's ear as long as there is line of sight (or mirrors).
• Infrared signals can be detected with a broadband microwave probe (visit researchelectronics.com) but the Commission on Presidential Debates won't say if it has one.

So how will we know if Palin is wired? We won't see anything in her back or in her ear. But if we watch her eyes, she may give it away - just as Bush does - by looking oddly inward as she tries to listen to the answers, mumbling to buy time, then reciting information that is clearly not in her head.

I encourage all Youtube fans to record the debate and try to upload such answers. If we're lucky, we might just score political gold!

Update 1: I love how Thomson describes infrared devices:

Infrared signals can be transmitted wirelessly and require that a candidate wear no special device -- not even a receiver in the ear. The infrared signal transforms into sound that only the recipient can hear -- undetectable even by someone standing right next to him.

This technology is being used in the war on terror to transmit messages to individual terrorists, so it seems they are hearing from Allah himself -- hence it's nickname: "The Voice of God."

No wonder George Bush believes God speaks to him! I'd sure hate to be the one to tell him it was just Karl Rove.

Update 2: ipsos beautifully lays out all the technical difficulties of giving Palin an earpiece using radio, wifi, or cellphone technology, but doesn't mention infrared.