Tonight’s debate between Vice President Dick Cheney and Sen. John Edwards offers a big opportunity for both sides.

The vice president has the chance to stop the swing in momentum that has followed the first debate between President Bush and Sen. John Kerry. Kerry made a strong showing, besting the president on subjects – foreign policy and national security – thought to be Bush’s strengths.

Kerry’s campaign and supporters found a new source of energy with his debate performance. Bush’s organization, however reluctantly, has admitted their man didn’t perform at his best.

Cheney has the chance to turn things around.

For Edwards, the stakes are also high. The big knock against Edwards is his relative lack of experience. He’s served a single term in the Senate, his first time in public office.

The contrasts between one of Washington’s ultimate insiders in Cheney and a Southern, sweet-talking trial lawyer in Edwards couldn’t be greater.

Cheney has vast experience in government and corporate boardrooms. He has easily played the part of attacker for the Bush campaign and can be dour, warning of disastrous consequences of a Kerry win. While his rhetoric has been overblown in many cases and his continued insistence that Iraq had operational ties to al-Qaida strains credibility, he is an experienced apparatchik and power broker.

Edwards, who built his run for president around a populist message that was transplanted to the Kerry campaign when he joined the ticket, needs to show his gravitas, that he’s more than just a pretty face and is ready to serve as president if necessary.

But all of that can only happen if people are watching. Major League Baseball’s playoffs will be running head-to-head with the debate, with the Yankees taking on the Twins and the first pitch only about 40 minutes before the debate begins. The Red Sox game, which begins at 4 p.m. should be over before the debate begins at 9 p.m.