It’s got to be tough being a vice presidential candidate. You’re away from home a lot. You play second fiddle. And nobody really cares much about what you do or say on the campaign trail (unless you screw up.)
So why would anyone want such a thankless job? Well, if your side wins, the job pays $227,300 per year. You get to live in a really nice mansion on the grounds of the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C. You get to fly around on Air Force 2, which is a really nice Boeing 757 (not as nice as Air Force 1, but still pretty comfy when compared with the no legroom experience everyone else who flies nowadays has to endure.) Of course you’ll be flying around to attend a lot of state funerals and other events too insignificant for the president to attend, but not so insignificant as to be blown off altogether.
And most importantly, if you’re vice president, you’ve got a lot better chance of someday becoming President yourself. In fact, almost a third of our vice presidents later became president. Here’s the complete list, starting with the most recent: George H. W. Bush, Gerald Ford, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Harry Truman, Calvin Coolidge, Theodore Roosevelt, Chester Arthur, Andrew Johnson, Millard Fillmore, John Tyler, Martin Van Buren, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams.
I know, my history major geekness is showing through here, but before I get into the debate last night, let’s take a look at some of the more memorable moments in vice presidential debates over the years. First, probably the most eviscerating zinger in vice presidential debate history, took place in 1988 between Republican Indiana Senator Dan Quayle and Democratic Senator Lloyd Bentson. Dan Quayle, whom the Democrats had been criticizing for not having enough experience to be vice president stated “I have as much experience in the Congress as Jack Kennedy did when he sought the presidency…” Bentson had been preparing for just such a comment, and famously responded “I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy.” Quayle had been gutted, filleted, and served up for dinner. However, the rest of the story, is George H. W. Bush and Dan Quayle went on to defeat Michael Dukakis and Bentson handily in the upcoming election. But in many ways, even though Dan Quayle went on to serve 8 years as Vice President of the United States, he never really recovered from Lloyd Bentson’s lethal line.
Four years later, in 1992, the most memorable line in the vice presidential debate came not from the Democratic or the Republican running mates, but from independent candidate Ross Perot’s running mate, retired Admiral James Stockdale. Now Stockdale was a true American hero. He was a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, who’d been a prisoner-of-war and withstood unspeakable treatment at the hands of his North Vietnamese captors. But unfortunately for Perot and himself, he began the debate with the memorable lines “Who am I? Why am I here?” And because of his sub-par performance, many debate watchers were wondering the same thing. At one point in the debate he even said “You know, I didn’t have my hearing aid turned on. Tell me again.”
A few years later, in 2004, it was Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards who stepped in it. His rival in the debate was Vice President Dick Cheney. The question asked by the moderator was about gay rights. Cheney gave a perfectly fine answer and chose not to mention that one of his two daughters was gay. So John Edwards decided to bring it up, just in case there was any voter in America who didn’t already know. It was a classless thing for Edwards to do, and even many in the mainstream press (a usually reliable tool for the Democratic party), roundly criticized Edwards for his lack of grace and basic human compassion. Of course Edwards and his running mate, John Kerry, went on to lose to Bush/Cheney.
And then there was 2008, Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin vs Democratic Vice President Joe Biden. When they shook hands at the beginning of the debate, Sarah Palin famously asked Biden if it was okay to call him “Joe” and he said yes. Palin, who’d been accused by most in the mainstream press of being too dumb to be vice president, smartly and memorably said to Biden at one point in the debate “say it ain’t so Joe. There you go again…” Sarah Palin had effectively gotten in a quote from Ronald Reagan and a reference to Shoeless Joe Jackson, all in the same statement. Not bad for someone who’d been written off as not ready for prime time. In my view, she won that debate, even though she and John McCain went on to lose to Obama/Biden.
Okay, so who won the debate last night? I don’t know if it’s because I’m rooting for the Trump/Pence ticket, but I think Mike Pence was the clear winner in this debate. Tim Kaine spent half the night interrupting Pence, and came across as being downright rude. In my view, Kaine’s most effective tactic was to repeat over and over the laundry list of Donald Trump’s most outrageous comments. Rather than refute each and every statement attributed to Trump, Pence refused to take the bait, and pivoted, criticizing Hillary on one of her many deficiencies.
Mike Pence had far more strong moments in the debate than Tim Kaine did. Here were Pence’s strongest moments. Time and again he made the point that a Hillary presidency would result in higher taxes. Pence emphasized that it was Donald Trump, not Hillary Clinton, who was endorsed by the police (the FOP), and the US Border Patrol. Pence quite dramatically reminded people that Hillary had insulted half of Trump’s supporters as a “basket of deplorables.” Pence seemed much more reasonable and responsible in emphasizing the importance of vetting Syrian refugees before they could enter the United States – Kaine sounded weak. And finally, Pence’s closing was superb.
Will the debate matter? History would indicate, probably not much. I sure hope this time it does. Because Mike Pence was by far the more impressive candidate.
We’ll see.
