They may be the prospective No. 2’s on stage, but history suggests that the entertainment value of the vice presidential debate is second to none.
Mike Pence and Tim Kaine will face off Tuesday night at Longwood University in Farmville, Va. — the only vice presidential candidate debate of the 2016 campaign — just over a week after the epic rumble between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton that drew a record 81 million television viewers.
But if past veep debates are any indication, the battle between Pence, a Republican, and Kaine, a Democrat, could create some of its own made-for-TV moments, experts say. Because the stakes for the No. 2 face-off aren’t nearly as high, the candidates can and usually need to be more provocative.
“People don’t vote for the second-in-command, they vote for the person at the top of the ticket,” presidential historian Allan Lichtman, told the Daily News. “So they can take more risks, try to make headlines with brilliant, potentially risky, one-liners.”
Neither Kaine, the junior U.S. senator from Virginia, nor Pence, the governor of Indiana, have an especially prominent national profile and could benefit from making a splash on national television, he said.
But because of the off-the-cuff lunacy that has come to define the Trump campaign, Pence might be well-advised “to do the opposite” to infuse the ticket with credibility following the mogul’s bizarre performance last week.
But Kaine could be free to open up the vault and go after the GOP presidential nominee.
“Trump has certainly given him a lot of material,” Lichtman said.
Here are some memorable moments from previous veep debates that could offer a hint of what’s to come Tuesday:
1988:
In the 1988 race between George H.W. Bush and Michael Dukakis, Bush’s running mate Dan Quayle was frequently criticized for his youth and inexperience — qualities that Dukakis’ running mate Lloyd Bentsen made sure to point out in his face-off with his younger counterpart.
“I have as much experience in the Congress as Jack Kennedy did when he sought the presidency,” Quayle, then a 41-year-old senator from Indiana told Bentsen, who replied with what’s become one of the best known verbal takedowns in modern political history.
“Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy, I knew Jack Kennedy, Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine,” said Bentsen, then a 67-year-old, three-term senator from Texas. “Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy.”
“That was really uncalled for,” a sullen Quayle replied.
The remark made headlines and is still widely quoted. It made no difference, however. The Bush-Quayle ticket trounced Dukakis-Bentsen.
1984:
In the 1984 presidential race between Ronald Reagan and Walter Mondale, the Mondale campaign, facing long odds against a popular incumbent, enlisted Rep. Geraldine Ferraro (D-N.Y.) as the first woman vice presidential nominee.
And when, during her face-off with incumbent vice president George H.W. Bush, Bush appeared to “mansplain” conflicts in the Middle East to her, Ferraro hit back hard
“Let me help you with the difference, Ms. Ferraro, between Iran and the embassy in Lebanon,” Bush told her during an especially tense exchange.
“Let me just say, first of all, I almost resent, Vice President Bush, your patronizing attitude that you have to teach me about foreign policy,” Ferraro responded.
Her gutsy reaction, however, had no impact on the race. The Mondale-Ferraro ticket carried only one state, and Washington, D.C., that year
2008:
Relations were a lot more cordial 24 years later when another woman was part of a major party ticket. In 2008, Sarah Palin, the running mate of John McCain, barnstormed the country with a folksy style and an unrepentant disregard for geography, foreign policy and facts.
Her profound unpreparedness concerned many Democrats, who worried that Joe Biden, then Sen. Barack Obama’s running mate and a 35-year Senate veteran who had a knack for putting his foot in his mouth, might speak condescendingly to Palin, much as Bush had to Ferraro.
At the same time, Republicans, were concerned about the growing mockery surrounding Palin and urged her to exercise modesty and wit.
Both veep candidates appeared to listen to the advice.
The night opened with rather charming scene, as Biden and Palin took to the stage to meet for the first time.
Palin shook Biden’s hand, smiled at him, and said, “Nice to meet you. Hey, can I call you Joe.”
“You can call me Joe,” a smiling Biden replied.
Her humble gesture, however, did nothing to take away from the image of her being erratic and uninformed. The Obama-Biden ticket soundly beat the McCain-Palin duo.
1992:
In 1992, the first and only time in history three candidates participated in a vice-presidential debate, the least known of the three — Ross Perot’s running mate, retired Vice Admiral James Stockdale — began his opening remarks with a line designed to cause a chuckle.
“Who am I? Why am I here?” Stockdale, then 68, said. “I’m not a politician. Everybody knows that.”
His quizzical performance had no effect on the election. While Perot took home one of the strongest vote-shares (19%) for a third-party candidate in U.S. history, he won zero states, and was trounced by Bill Clinton.
So what does it matter?
In the end, the veep matchup is just an opportunity for each campaign to do whatever they’d like — be it throw mud, hunker down or have fun, Lichtman told The News.
“These were great lines,” he said referring to the quips by Bentsen, Ferraro, Palin and Stockdale. “But they didn’t make any difference.”
“Really, there’s no evidence that any vice-presidential debate has made the slightest bit of difference — ever,” he said.