This week we’re going to talk about the vice presidential debates, 
a quintessential part of the least important part, perhaps, of the presidential campaign. 
Let’s talk a little bit about the history of these vice presidential debates.
Going all the way back to ’76, probably the only thing anyone remembers from that particular debate was Bob Dole, who was then a senator from Kansas,
saying he had fought in World War II and he thought there was a certain amount of resentment in the country for the Democrat wars of the first half of the 20th century –
putting the responsibility for them on the other party.
That really stuck in a lot of people’s craw,
probably did not help the Gerald Ford-Bob Dole ticket in 1976.
1988, quite a memorable vice presidential debate between Lloyd Bentsen, 
the Democratic nominee with Mike Dukakis,
and Dan Quayle, who was running to be vice president for George H.W. Bush,
who was then running to be president.
At one point in the debate, Dan Quayle said that while he was kind of young when he came to the Senate –
he looked very young next to the silver-haired, stately Lloyd Bentsen –
he said, “I’m actually older than John F. Kennedy was when he was elected president.”
And Bentsen immediately looked at him and said, 
"I served with Jack Kennedy, I knew Jack Kennedy, Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy."
And the audience, which was supposed to be quiet and subdued, lost it.  
While it did not seem to have any effect on the outcome of the 1988 election, 
it certainly had an impact on the impression people had of Dan Qualye.
None of these vice presidential debates can be shown to have had a tremendous amount of impact,
even in years where someone seemed to be the clear winner of that debate,
that ticket did not necessarily win.
So, we don't really have to connect it, though, to the outcome of the election to see value in it,
because we learn something about men or women who may very well, one day be president of the United States.
So there are lots of reasons to watch. 
