Who will win the VP debate?

[Lyin' Steve]

Bonus:  Who's tired of everyone thinking they're the first to write the knee-jerk "this will be a snoozefest" or "draw because both candidates put me to sleep" responses?

Honestly I think this will be a very substantive and interesting debate.  Both candidates are wily, strong politicians with deep policy knowledge.  Pence has the advantage that he may be held to Trump's standard, in which case he will exceed it substantially.  Kaine has the advantage that Pence fundamentally disagrees with his running mate on a number of issues and doesn't seem to have any inclination to squirm out of confessing those disagreements.

Overall, I think only Kaine can score a knockout, and he will be on the offensive all night, but Pence has the potential to earn 2-3 points back for his ticket if he defends himself well.

[Joe Biden is your president. Deal with it.]

Nobody is gonna care about the VP debate.

First presidential debate= The Force Awakens

VP debate= Rogue One


But I think Kaine will win.

[Lachi]

Probably Kaine.

[Buzz]

Pence

[ursulahx]

Neither, and in any case no one cares.

[Slander and/or Libel]

Both candidates are wily, strong politicians with deep policy knowledge.

From what I've heard, Pence is a stone cold idiot.

[Xing]

My guess is Kaine will narrowly "win", but I highly doubt this debate will sway anyone. It will basically just drill in the idea that "Democrat = Liberal" and "Republican = Conservative."

[PeteB]

Realistically, Kaine has a much more appealing story and can debate well. Pence is a solid conservative but, with Trump at the top of the ticket, he has his work cut out for him.

In the end, I suspect this debate will matter very little (except to Atlas ), but I do think it will be an entertaining debate for those who care about policy and governing.

[pho]

Kaine. The moderators are unquestionably going to ask Pence about the religious freedom bill, and that's a loser for the GOP no matter what Pence says.

[tallguy23]

It won't really matter who wins and I doubt it'll be a blowout.

[Catholics vs. Convicts]

Kaine will do better, it will be perceived as a draw or Kaine win, and it won't move the needle one bit.

[Anna Komnene]

It will either be a draw or a disaster for Mike Pence depending on what gets discussed.

[Lyin' Steve]

Five days away!  And we're all already talking about the next presidential debate as though this won't even happen.  Did you forget that the VP debate in 2012 was a major, major reinvigorating event for a moribund Obama campaign?  Pence is, unlike Trump, a competent politician, I'm worried he may be able to pull it off.  He probably can't outfox Kaine, but just delivering a positive and appealing message that synchronizes with Trump while mitigating his flaws may be enough, so Kaine not only has to perform well on his own but also cut into Pence's attempt to stabilize and normalize the ticket.

[Kleine Scheiße]

They'll have a very substantial, decent debate. Kaine will win, and the entire country will sadly wonder why we didn't just nominate these two instead of Hillary and Trump.

EDIT JULY 19 2019: This was stupid.