Democrat Tim Kaine and Republican Mike Pence squared off in Tuesday night’s vice-presidential debate of the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election at Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia.
Hillary Clinton’s running mate Sen. Tim Kaine and Donald Trump’s running mate Gov. Mike Pence debated for 90 minutes with no commercial breaks with CBS News anchor Elaine Quijano serving as moderator.
READ MORE: VP debate: Tim Kaine and Mike Pence come out swinging in defence of Clinton, Trump
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While the vice-presidential debate likely won’t attract the 84 million viewers who tuned in for first presidential debate between Trump and Clinton, Tuesday’s debate between Kaine and Pence WAS expected to see the two candidate defend the controversial positions or statements made by their running mates.
What to expect from Tuesday’s debate?
![Click to play video: 'Trump campaign under fire over tax questions'](https://i1.wp.com/media.globalnews.ca/videostatic/968/334/GN_161003_PROSKOW_tnb_3.jpg?w=1040&quality=70&strip=all)
WATCH ABOVE: Trump campaign under fire over tax questions
While past vice-presidential candidates usually face off on each other’s records, Pence will have the unenviable role of defending Trump’s recent disparaging comments about former Miss Universe Alicia Machado, Trump’s attacks on Clinton’s marriage, and a report in the New York Times that revealed Trump may have gone nearly 18 years without paying federal income taxes.
READ MORE: Pence v. Kaine: Who are the vice-presidential candidates?
Pence has played this role before, deflecting questions about Trump’s attacks against a military family, while also toughening the Trump campaign’s stance against Russia.
WATCH BELOW: Tim Kaine and Mike Pence are set to take center stage Tuesday night for their one and only Vice Presidential debate. They have been overshadowed during their campaign by the front runners, but as Jackson Proskow reports, this debate is an important one.
![Click to play video: 'VP candidates set to take center stage for their only debate'](https://i2.wp.com/media.globalnews.ca/videostatic/733/399/GN_161004__PROSKOW_848x480_779236931871.jpg?w=1040&quality=70&strip=all)
READ MORE: Rudy Giuliani, Chris Christie call Donald Trump ‘genius’ for allegedly avoiding federal taxes
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Meanwhile, Pence could go on the offensive bringing up the Clinton Foundation and Clinton’s ongoing e-mail scandal that Trump failed to capitalize on in the first debate.
![Click to play video: 'Mike Pence, Tim Kaine getting set to square off in Vice-Presidential debate'](https://i0.wp.com/media.globalnews.ca/videostatic/305/171/VPdebatePack_qtp_640x360_778788931729.jpg?w=1040&quality=70&strip=all)
Democratic campaign aide Mo Elleithee told ABC News Kaine has been preparing for weeks for the debate.
“He doesn’t have a pair of lucky debate socks or anything crazy,” Elleithee said. “He takes his prep seriously, spends a lot of time thinking about how he wants to frame the arguments he wants to make.”
![Click to play video: 'VP debate: Pence tries to defend Trump not releasing his taxes'](https://i0.wp.com/media.globalnews.ca/videostatic/785/651/2016-10-05T01-23-35.466Z--1280x720.jpg?w=1040&quality=70&strip=all)
Who are the candidates?
Tim Kaine, a U.S. senator from Virginia who previously served both governor of the state and a mayor, will likely have home field advantage as he faces Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, who also served as a former U.S. congressman.
READ MORE: Donald Trump tax returns: 5 things you need to know on fallout from ‘bombshell’ report
Pence and Kaine will both attempt to secure new exposure with a U.S. electorate that is largely unfamiliar with either candidate.
According to recent polls 30 per cent of Americans have no opinion on Pence, while 40 per cent are undecided on Kaine.
In a recent Associated Press-GfK poll, more than half of registered voters said they didn’t know enough about Kaine to venture an opinion about him, and about 44 per cent said the same for Pence.
![Click to play video: 'VP debate: Tim Kaine says Clinton is a ‘you’re hired plan’, Trump is ‘you’re fired’'](https://i2.wp.com/media.globalnews.ca/videostatic/784/175/2016-10-05T01-18-58.033Z--1280x720.jpg?w=1040&quality=70&strip=all)
When is the next debate?
While Tuesday is the only vice-presidential debate, the next Trump-Clinton matchup is Oct. 9 in St. Louis.
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