America, prepare to be underwhelmed when Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence take the national stage on Tuesday evening.
The two vice presidential candidates have been overshadowed by their larger-than-life running mates, Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton. The most exotic thing about Kaine is his harmonica playing. Pence’s guilty pleasure is eating popcorn (from Indiana, always from Indiana) in his office at 5pm. Both public officials are deeply religious white men in their fifties. Both have largely inoffensive track records (save Pence’s signing of a religious freedom bill that critics say is anti-LGBT) and have backed up their candidates consistently on the campaign trail. Unlike veep contenders of elections past (think Sarah Palin, Joe Biden, Dan Quayle), neither Kaine or Pence are prone to awkward slip-ups that reflect poorly on their candidate.
So why should anyone watch tonight’s vice presidential debate? The election is less than 35 days away, and the stakes are higher than ever. Given that the role of vice president is largely that of damage control, both Pence and Kaine are likely to have to answer for their more controversial counterparts. There’s still plenty of tension from a Trump-fueled weekend news dump that began with a “sex tape” and ended with a major New York Times scoop on Trump’s tax returns. WikiLeaks is expected to release a series of documents on Clinton this week and every week leading up to the Election Day on Nov. 8.
What time is the vice presidential debate?
It starts tonight at 9pm ET. It will be moderated by Elaine Quijano of CBS News at Virginia’s Longwood University.
According to the Commission on Presidential Debates, tonight’s vice presidential debate will be divided into nine time segments of approximately 10 minutes each. Quijana will ask an opening question, and each candidate will have two minutes to respond. The moderator will use the balance of the time to take a deeper dive into the topic.
Where can I watch the vice presidential debate?
Television
The vice presidential debate will be broadcast on all major U.S. networks and several cable news channels. This includes ABC, CBS, Fox, C-SPAN, MSNBC, CNN, Univision, PBS, and CNBC.
Livestream
Similar to the first presidential debate, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter will stream the vice presidential debate. You’ll also be able to catch a livestream on the websites of all the major news networks. Or you can just watch it right here:
Online media outlets such as Bloomberg, Buzzfeed, the Daily Caller, Huffington Post, and the Washington Post will also be hosting their own livestreams of the vice presidential debate.