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.
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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?
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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.
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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.
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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.
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.”
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.
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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.
When is the next debate?
While Tuesday is the only vice-presidential debate, the next Trump-Clinton matchup is Oct. 9 in St. Louis.