The slights that come with the position of vice president are endless, a position that is generally treated as irrelevant when its occupant is not completely ignored.
It is therefore not surprising that the modern history of vice presidential debates is notably lacking in gravity and moments of real political importance. In fact, since the first confrontation of presidential surrogates almost 50 years ago, precisely none has made the slightest difference in the race for the White House.
“There are many other factors to consider,” said Christopher Devine, a University of Dayton professor who has written extensively about the vice presidency. “It's not that voters don't care a lot about the vice presidential debate. “It's just that compared to everything else, it doesn't matter that much.”
Still, tens of millions of viewers are expected to tune in Tuesday night when Ohio Sen. JD Vance and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz meet at the CBS News studios in New York City for 90 minutes of back-and-forth. of opinions.
Why bother looking?
“Vice presidents really matter,” said Jody Baumgartner, an expert in the East Carolina University office. “They are another voice close to the president.”
And while some vice presidents have had more influence than others (Dick Cheney, say, as opposed to Mike Pence), each of them has been second in line to the presidency and all have been that proverbial heartbeat to the enter the Oval Office and assume the presidency.
“So, at the very least,” Baumgartner said, a vice presidential debate “gives us, the American citizens, a chance to find out who that guy is.” [person] It’s… an idea of who they are and what they’re about.”
Devine offered another reason to look, assuming trouble is your thing. Without the annoying histrionics of the bombastic Republican candidate, the showdown between Vance and Walz could prove more substantial than the two presidential debates that took place this summer.
“When Donald Trump is a presidential candidate, there's a lot of personality and controversy and all that kind of stuff that comes out,” Devine said. “People might think this is a better forum to get, from the horse's mouth, what the different presidential formulas really represent.”
Not that the debate will change many people's minds.
“The reality is that probably, for most people, it will function as an outlet to root for JD Vance or Tim Walz,” Devine said.
If problems aren't your thing, that's okay, we don't judge! – You might want to tune in on Tuesday night expecting something strange or unexpected. Some of the most resonant political moments in recent history have taken place on the vice presidential debate stage.
In 1976, in the first televised vice presidential debate, Republican Bob Dole notoriously described World War I, World War II, and others fought by Americans in the 20th century as “Democratic wars.” The number of dead and injured “would be…enough to fill the city of Detroit,” he continued, adding insult to injury. It took years for Dole to forget its image as a political axe.
In 2008, Republican Sarah Palin sparked days of discussion by winking her way through a debate with Democrat Joe Biden. (He winked at least six times at 70 million viewers, the largest audience ever to watch a vice presidential debate. It marked the first and only time in history that a vice presidential debate drew a larger audience than the contenders' showdown.) presidential.)
Four years ago, while Pence and Harris were arguing about systemic racism, a fly landed on the snowy expanse of Pence's white hairstyle and ended up taking away the story of the night. Researchers at New York University analyzed online activity during the 90-minute session, as well as two hours before and after the debate, and found that the fly was mentioned almost 30% more, on average, than Trump, Biden, Pence or Harris.
But arguably the most famous vice presidential debate took place in 1988, when Republican Dan Quayle faced off against Democrat Lloyd Bentsen. Quayle, who was 41 years old at the time, had undergone a difficult initiation after his surprise selection to serve as George HW Bush's running mate.
Asked for the umpteenth time about his relative youth, Quayle said he had more experience than others who had run for president and as much experience in Congress as John F. Kennedy when he was seeking the White House.
Bentsen, with a gunfighter's gleam in his eye, responded coldly: “Senator, I served under Jack Kennedy. I met Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you are no Jack Kennedy.”
Quayle's stricken look, a grimace of shock and humiliation, spoke of the devastation of the aftershock after which, it is fair to say, his callow image never quite faded.
Not that it mattered.
“It's the most conclusive and definitive defeat of a vice presidential candidate in any debate,” said Alan Schroeder of Northeastern University, who has written an authoritative history of high-stakes political showdowns. And yet, just a few weeks later, Bush and Quayle achieved victory.
So let's not tune in assuming that Tuesday's event will decide the Harris-Trump race.
But if you're the type whose tastes run more toward C-SPAN than SportsCenter, grab a drink or pop some popcorn and sit down with JD and Tim and debate moderators Norah O'Donnell and Margaret Brennan.
You could have an entertaining or at least interesting evening.
