Tonight is the vice presidential candidate debate, and since the first presidential debate Open Post was such a success, we decided to give you a special Open Post for the would-be veeps. The debate airs at 9 pm on every network and every cable news channel and it will feature Senator Tim Kaine (D-Virginia) and Governor Mike Pence (R-Indiana). We’ll also have coverage of the debate tomorrow, although I’m not expecting the Veep Debate to be as major – sniffle – as the first presidential debate.
As I discussed after Kaine’s speech at the DNC in August, I really like Kaine. I liked him when he was my governor, and I like him as my senator and I’m sure going to love him when he’s the Vice President of the United States. I’ve had the pleasure of voting for him twice now (as governor and senator) and I’m looking forward to voting for him next month. He comes across like an extremely decent guy because that’s really who he is. But don’t be fooled – he’s also a very savvy politician, and I have no doubt that he’s prepped hard for this debate.
As for Pence… God help us all. The thing about it is, Pence is actually an awful candidate… except when he’s standing next to Donald Trump. Trump makes Pence look positively presidential and measured. Pence has a long history of extreme views on LGBT issues, reproductive choice, unions, immigration, education and more – go here for a primer.
The debate will be moderated by CBS News’ Elaine Quijano. It’s also taking place in Virginia, which pleases me to no end! Longwood University is hosting the debate and I tend to think that Kaine will have an advantage with a hometown crowd, even if Farmville, VA is not particularly a hotbed of liberalism. Kaine was simply a really popular governor and I think there’s a lot of residual affection for him. Still, this debate is going to be sadly lacking in Joe Biden yelling “MALARKEY!” at everyone and everything. I hope Kaine does go Full Biden and says something about malarkey or shenanigans though.
CB and I will be tweeting a bit tonight too! You can follow me here @KaiseratCB. You can follow CB here @Celebitchy.