Welcome to The Lid, your afternoon dose of the 2016 ethos… Donald Trump announced he will be live tweeting the vice presidential debate, which is a bit surprising since the showdown begins at 9 p.m. at not 3 a.m.
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‘16 from 30,000: Tim Kaine and Mike Pence have worked so hard to burnish their everyman family-guy credentials that we can only assume they’re hoping that the first question in tonight’s vice presidential debate will deal with lawnmower maintenance or grilling techniques. Anyway, we are just hours away from the big faceoff at Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia. And if it’s a debate night, that means that the NBCNews.com politics team is firing up a live blog! We’ll have live updates and analysis, top moments and - of course - plenty of fact checks. So follow along here!
POPPING ON NBC POLITICS
Here’s everything you need to know about the vice presidential debate, all in one place!
Despite notable differences, Mike Pence and his team have meshed well with Trump, NBC’s Vaughn Hillyard.
NBC’s Kaliani Koenig reports on how Kaine became a reliable messenger for Clinton.
NBC’s Alex Seitz-Wald reports on how a tiny town in Virginia got to host tonight’s debate.
Both VP candidates will have to convince skeptical voters that their ticket is the right one.
Here are some of the most memorable moments from past veep debates.
And from First Read: Why Mike Pence has the toughest job tonight.
FOR THE RECORD…
“I'm a real skeptic when it comes to elected leaders.”
- Gary Johnson, on CNN.
TOMORROW’S SKED
Bill Clinton campaigns in Ohio.
Bernie Sanders stumps for Clinton in Iowa and Wisconsin.
Mike Pence is in Virginia and Pennsylvania.
Donald Trump campaigns in Nevada.
Tim Kaine is in Philadelphia.
