The craze surrounding the presidential race was heightened even more on Oct. 4 by the first vice presidential debate of the voting season.

        In this debate, Senator Tim Kaine, Hillary Clinton’s running mate, and Governor Mike Pence, Donald Trump’s running mate, confronted each other on platform ideals and the controversies of their running mates. The debate started off with the basic formalities to be expected, with Kaine and Pence greeting each other and the moderator, Elaine Quijano, who sat between them.

         The first question Quijano asked the two men were “What about your qualities, your skills, and your temperament equip you to step into (the role of the president) at a moment’s notice?”

      Kaine responded to the question first stating that he has a long list of experience in politics behind him to step in for Clinton in the case of an emergency, calling on his experience as a civil rights lawyer, councilman, mayor, lieutenant governor, governor and U.S. senator. Pence responded in a similar fashion, stating that he also has the ability “to bring a lifetime of experience” to lead the nation in the case of an emergency.

        The next questions that Quijano asked the two candidates were related the reliability of their running mates. She first asked Kaine “60 percent of voters don’t think (Clinton) is trustworthy, why do you think so many people distrust her?”

        Kaine responded that no matter the public’s opinion of the the secretary of state he trusts Clinton, stating “from a time as a kid in a Methodist youth group in the suburbs of Chicago she has been focused on serving others with a special focus on serving others with a special focus on empowering families and kids.” Kaine went on to argue that there is a sharp contrast between Clinton and Trump in this regard, stating that Trump “always puts himself first.”

        Quijano went on to ask a similar question to Pence, asking “67 percent of voters feel he is a risky choice, and 65 percent feel he does not have the right kind of temperament to be president. Why do so many Americans think Mr. Trump is simply too erratic?”

        Pence responded in a similar way as Kaine did, spending more time focused on why the competition was untrustworthy than the time he spend validating his running mate’s accountability. After a drawn out cross-talk argument over Russia, Pence finally answered the question stating, “Donald Trump has built a business through hard times and through good times. He’s brought an extraordinary business acumen. He’s employed tens of thousands of people in this country.”

        Throughout the debate a common trend was obvious; both candidates were very eager to bring their opponent’s scandals to light, but they were both slow to justify the past actions of their runningmates. For example, Kiane was eager to call out Pence, stating “I can’t believe you won’t defend your own voting record.” Pence did not hesitate to question Kaine’s integrity either, stating that Kaine and Clinton were running an “insult driven campaign.” This is likely in reference to Clinton’s insult stating that half of trump supporters were “deplorables.”

        After a debate is concluded it can be rather obvious to the viewer which party “won,” but in this debate that was not the case. In this debate, it seemed apparent that Kaine was more willing to discuss policy plans than Pence was, but a whiny demeanor and a handful of pre-written taglines made his arguments seem less heartfelt.

     On the other hand, Pence was less willing to talk about specific plans that he and his running mate possess, but the way that he presented his arguments seemed much more calm, cool and collected than his opponent.