Welcome to AFP’s Live Report on the one and only debate between the two candidates for vice president, Democrat Joe Biden, the elder statesman who has held the post for almost four years and Republican Paul Ryan, the young congressman who wants his job.
Biden, 69, was senator from Delaware from 1973 until he resigned to serve as vice president under Barack Obama. He is known for his expertise in foreign policy and often recounts his hard-scrabble upbringing in Pennsylvania. Biden’s political career has been shaped by tragedy, after his wife and child were killed in a car accident just after he was first elected. A seasoned debater, he is is also prone to veering way off his prepared talking points, to the point of a gaffe
Ryan, 42, has served as congressman from Wisconsin since 1999. He rose to national prominence for a budget proposal lauded by conservatives for cutting costs and slammed by liberals for slashing social programs. Both men are observant Catholics.
The international media is focused on the two running mates tonight, but history suggests that the vice presidential debates have little effect on the outcome of presidential elections. They are ripe for zingers and memorable exchanges, however. Will we see any like these tonight?
In 1984, sitting vice president George H.W. Bush faced the first woman to be nominated on a major party ticket, Geraldine Ferraro. In a debate about foreign policy, Bush stepped on a landmine by seeming to school the three-term lawmaker.
“Let me help you, Mrs. Ferraro, with the differences between Iran and the embassy in Lebanon….” he said. Ferraro, a third-term lawmaker, allowed him to finish but answered, “I resent Vice President Bush’s patronizing attitude, that you have to teach me about foreign policy.”
Even more memorable was a 1988 exchange between Democratic senator Lloyd Bentsen and Dan Quayle, who, at 41, tried to defend his youth by saying he had as much legislative experience as assassinated president John F. Kennedy.
“Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy, I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy,” he said to cheers and whistles from the crowd.
US vice presidential debate: Live Report
