Hitchhiker's Guide to How the Vice Presidential Debate Sometimes Gets More Memorable

It's doubtful whether this week's debate between vice presidential candidates Tim Walz and JD Vance will attract the same attention as the debate between the candidates: Vice President Harris and former President Trump. Historically, however, disagreements between running mates have often been more combative. Much more lively. More fun to watch. And sometimes more memorable.

It's hard to say why the undercard can be more intriguing than the main event. But first-round playoff games in hockey are often better games than the Stanley Cup Finals. I have long argued that the American League and National League Championship Series are generally more competitive baseball than what is experienced during the World Series.

Maybe it has something to do with the vice presidential candidates introducing themselves to the audience. They're just not that well known.

“Who am I? “Why am I here?” quipped the late Rear Admiral James Stockdale when independent presidential candidate Ross Perot named him his running mate in 1992.

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Stockdale's folksy line immediately sparked laughter and applause from the crowd gathered in Atlanta that evening.

“I am not a politician. Everyone knows that. So don't expect me to use the language of the Washington insider,” Stockdale said at his lectern sandwiched between future President Clinton's vice president, then-Sen. Al Gore, D-Tenn., and Vice President Dan Quayle.

As Gore and Quayle argued, their verbal volleys raged back and forth in front of Stockdale. For the most part he was a silent spectator. At one point, as Stockdale tried to speak up, he suddenly blurted out that he felt like he was “in the middle of a ping-pong match.”

Precedent suggests that the vice presidential debate between Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz and Ohio Republican Sen. JD Vance will likely be a more entertaining fight than the main event – his presidential counterpart. (Getty Images)

Later in the debate, moderator Hal Bruno of ABC News asked whether mudslinging tactics were “necessary” in the election campaign. Stockdale replied that he had not heard the question.

“I didn’t have my hearing aid turned on. “Tell me again,” Stockdale asked Bruno, sparking another outcry from the audience.

Sometimes vice presidential candidates have to test each other out.

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“The first time I met you was when you walked on stage tonight,” then-Vice President Dick Cheney said to former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., then John Kerry's running mate, at the 2004 vice presidential debate.

Running mates sometimes try to appear more down-to-earth than the frontrunners.

“Nice to meet you,” said former Alaska governor and 2008 vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin (right) as she shook hands with then-Senator Biden on stage in St. Louis. “Can I call you Joe?”

Vice presidential candidates also often try to present themselves as more down-to-earth than their counterparts – a typical example: the folksy greeting of then-Delaware Senator Joe Biden by then-Alaska Governor Sarah Palin during their duel in 2008. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

“You can call me Joe,” the future president replied with a smile.

Mr. Biden tried to project an “oh shit” lunch-pail persona in the 2012 vice presidential debate. He used layman's language when making sharp remarks to GOP vice presidential nominee and future House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisc.

“When we look weak, our opponents are more willing to test us. They’re more brazen in their attacks,” Ryan said.

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“With all due respect, that is a lot of nonsense,” replied the future president.

Palin attempted the same thing, using phrases like “damn” and winking at the audience not once but four times to punctuate her answers.

Vice-presidential debates are often peppered with wry humor.

Ironic humor is another staple of vice presidential standoffs, such as Al Gore's 1996 promise not to tell “warm and humorous stories about reducing chlorofluorocarbons” if his opponent, Jack Kemp, steers clear of telling football anecdotes . (ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images)

“If you don’t use football stories, I won’t tell any of my warm and humorous stories about avoiding chlorofluorocarbons,” then-Vice President Gore promised during his 1996 debate with Republican vice presidential candidate Jack Kemp.

Gore was known for his views on global warming and environmental policy. A former congressman and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Kemp also played quarterback for the San Diego Chargers and Buffalo Bills of the American Football League before it merged with the NFL.

Many people would pay to be a fly fisherman in preparing for the debate. House Majority Leader Tom Emmer, R-Minn., waltzed with Vance during the sessions. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg portrayed Vance during his rehearsals with Walz.

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But you don't even have to be a fly on the wall for these debates. Sometimes a fly just appears – and lands on former Vice President Mike Pence's head. This was the case when Pence debated Vice President Harris in Salt Lake City four years ago.

But the vice presidential debates are getting more and more sensitive.

Aside from the bow tie, what many remember best is the Harris/Pence debate in 2020, in which the vice president repeatedly declared, “I'm speaking” and implored Pence to wait his turn.

The fly that landed on then-Vice President Mike Pence's head during his 2020 tussle with then-California Sen. Kamala Harris was far from the ugliest thing to happen onstage that night. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Viewers also remember how Pence and Democratic vice presidential nominee and Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., talked over each other during their 2016 debate.

In the first televised vice presidential debate in Houston in 1976, Republican vice presidential candidate and future Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, R-Kan., portrayed World War II, the Korean War and Vietnam as “Democrat wars.” Then he added: ” Richard Nixon's pardon is behind us. Watergate is behind us.”

“I think Senator Dole fully earned his reputation as a sniper tonight,” the future vice president and then-senator replied. Walter Mondale, D-Minn.

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And future President George HW Bush drew the ire of female voters when he spoke condescendingly to 1984 Democratic vice presidential nominee and Rep. Geraldine Ferraro (D-N.Y.) – the first woman ever to appear on a major party ballot.

“Let me help you, Miss Ferraro, on the difference between Iran and the embassy in Lebanon,” Bush said.

“First, let me just say, Vice President Bush, I'm almost sick of the patronizing attitude you have to teach me about foreign policy,” Ferraro shot back.

Then-New York Rep. Geraldine Ferraro accused her Republican opponent, incumbent Vice President George HW Bush, of unnecessary condescension at the 1984 debate in a dispute over foreign policy. (Photo by © Wally McNamee/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

The congresswoman noted that she had served in the House of Representatives for nearly six years at that point.

But a quote from a vice presidential debate is, without question, one of the best lines in the history of American politics.

During the 1988 campaign, the press and some in the public mocked Quayle as Bush 41's vice president. His youthful appearance and frequent verbal gaffes made Quayle seem unprepared for the job. Quayle was 41 years old at the time. But he had already served nearly eight years in the Senate and four years in the House. To compensate, Quayle often portrayed his youth in the same way that the late President “Jack Kennedy” captured the imagination of Americans.

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Compared to 1988 vice presidential candidate Quayle and Sen. Lloyd Bentsen, D-Tex., he appeared confident, stately and steadfast. Bentsen and his handlers were well aware of Quayle's “Jack Kennedy” comparisons. And so, during the debate in Omaha, Neb., Bentsen waited for Quayle to trap him himself.

“I have much more experience than many others who aspired to be vice president of this country. I have as much experience in Congress as Jack Kennedy did when he ran for the presidency,” Quayle said.

Bentsen pounced.

Democratic Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen's quip in 1988 that Republican opponent Dan Quayle was “no Jack Kennedy” is widely considered one of the most memorable one-liners in recent political history. (Photo by Steve Liss/Getty Images)

“I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you are no Jack Kennedy,” Bentsen said.

The hall erupted in thunderous applause and shouts.

Quayle stewed, staring sharply at his Senate colleague.

“That was really inappropriate, Senator,” Quayle fumed.

Bentsen's line has echoed for decades and has been lampooned on everything from Saturday Night Live to 30 Rock.

Just a historical footnote. JFK and Bentsen never sat in the Senate together. But they were members of the House of Representatives during the same period, in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

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Running mates have two duties. They must prove that they are ready to take on the main job. And they shouldn't overshadow the actual candidate. But in vice president debates, the one-liners often do just that.