Vice-presidential debate: Stage set for Tim Kaine vs Mike Pence

WASHINGTON: Long considered the most boring job in the country — the political equivalent of a lift operator — the US vice-presidency comes into focus on Tuesday night when Democratic nominee

Tim Kaine

and Republican candidate Mike Pence duke it out in the only debate between them.

Comedians often joke that vice-presidents are only good to attend funerals of international leaders, and indeed at least three (Dan Quayle, George Bush Sr, and Hubert Humphrey) have winged it to India to attend the last rites of Rajiv Gandhi, Indira Gandhi, and Lal Bahudur Shastri respectively. In more recent times though, Presidents Barack Obama, George W Bush, and

Bill Clinton

have given their veeps (Joe Biden,

Dick Cheney

, and Al Gore) bigger roles.

It could get even bigger in the next administration considering the US is seeing two of the oldest Presidential candidates in its history fighting it out for the White House amid suggestions neither of them is in the pink of health.

Relative to Donald Trump (70) and Hillary Clinton (69 later this month), their putative deputies Mike Pence (57) and Tim Kaine (58) are young, but they pack plenty of political experience. Much in the same way as Quayle was regarded as being a "heartbeat away from the White House" (given the incumbent Bush Sr’s age), the two are considered closer in line to the Presidency than say, Joe Biden or Dick Cheney.

Although the larger-than-life profiles of the candidates at the top of the ticket have hogged all the headlines, the stakes are high in the veep debate because of the perceived vulnerability of the presidential nominees.

Both are mild-mannered, genteel politicians, but they will approach the debate differently: Pence’s job is to inject some coherence and order into a chaotic Trump campaign by clearly articulating policy and shining the light on the Republican Party, many of whose stalwarts disdain the nominee. Kaine has the task of making Hillary Clinton look more personable and trustworthy.

They will set the stage for the second Presidential debate this coming Sunday with Trump trying to retrieve lost ground after a shaky performance in the first debate. Since then he has had more online meltdowns, including infantile rants about a former Miss Universe, and a tax dodge scandal.

Latest polls are starting to show Hillary Clinton gradually regaining her lead in seven of the 11 battleground states that will decide the election.

A CBS News/The New York Times poll showed Clinton ahead by four points (45-41) after the first Presidential debate. The same poll a month ago before the first debate had shown the two tied.

The Trump crowd was waiting anxiously for a promised "October surprise" by wikileaks which they had claimed would sink the Clinton White House bid, but that did not happen on Tuesday morning. A press conference convened by Wikileaks’ Julian Assange, to which millions of Trump loyalists tuned in believe some explosive disclosures would be made, turned out to be a promo for Wikileaks’ tenth anniversary.

The Trump campaign meanwhile continued to self-destruct, with the candidate’s chief attack dog Rudy Giuliani outdoing Trump with provocative remarks. Among his latest gems: Trump will be better than a woman in White House, and infidelity is no big deal – everybody commits it.