Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin gives a wink and a thumbs-up at a rally in Virginia Beach, Va. Times staffer Faye Fiore writes of Palin’s winking: Research shows that ambiguous gestures like a wink are risky on a close-up medium such as television, particularly when aimed at an audience that the speaker wants to persuade, said Erik Bucy, an expert in nonverbal communications at Indiana University. (AFP / Getty Images)
Sarah Palin winks during the VP debate with Joe Biden. The candidate winked at least six times at 70 million viewers on the vice presidential debate platform opposite rival Biden, whose main form of nonverbal communication was a great big grin, writes Fiore. (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press)
Presidential candidate John McCain, with wife Cindy, winks while campaigning in Pennsylvania. (William Thomas Cain / Getty Images)
Palin‘s winks caught the eye of this protester. (Carlos Delgado / Associated Press)