Open thread: Apparently there’s a VP debate happening

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**Written by Doug Powers

Open thread for VP debate discussion — or the Orioles/Blue Jays wild card game if you prefer.

Tuesday night’s debate is between the No. 2’s — but it will be all about the No. 1’s.

Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R) and Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) will share the biggest and most hazardous stage of their careers when they face off in Farmville, Va., for the season’s only vice-presidential debate, and it is ­expected to center on the two figures atop the tickets.

Pence and Kaine are poised to duel over the temperament, qualifications, honesty and records of Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton, as the two affable and smooth-talking men explain and proselytize for their historically unpopular running mates.

Spoiler alert! Mike Pence is the debate’s winner, but that’s according to the GOP before it even started:

Hillary set the VP debate stage by using harsher rhetoric for Mike Pence than she does for terrorists:

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Is this really the week Hillary wants to take jabs at somebody else’s treatment of women? Of course it is — having zero self-awareness is very liberating.

Joe Biden’s advice to Hillary’s running-mate is to just agree with her on everything. Kaine pretty much has to — if he disagreed with Clinton, by Democrat rule he’d also have to call himself out as sexist. Disagreeing with Hillary is out, but Kaine’s obviously encouraged to disagree with reality.

Debate starts at 9 p.m. ET. Do not attempt to operate heavy machinery while listening.

**Written by Doug Powers

Twitter @ThePowersThatBe