Why the US vice-presidential debate matters to the world

INDIANA governor Mike Pence and Senator Tim Kaine, the running mates of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton respectively, meet on Oct 4, Tuesday (Wednesday morning, Singapore time) for the sole US vice-presidential debate. The event could have an unexpected bearing on the election outcome, and the issue of who becomes vice-president matters, potentially greatly, for US domestic and foreign policy in coming years.

In part, this is because of the increased status and resourcing of the vice-presidential office in recent decades. This has been epitomised in the last quarter of a century by the sizeable influence of the last three incumbents: Joe Biden, Dick Cheney, and Al Gore. Indeed, Mr Cheney, a predominant voice in many of former US president George W Bush's decisions, including the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, is widely viewed as the most powerful-ever holder of the office. Meanwhile, Mr Biden and Mr Gore played a major role in US domestic and foreign policy too. Mr Biden was, for instance, a key player encouraging US President Barack Obama to seek last year's nuclear deal with Iran, and is pushing hard for the pending Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal with Asia-Pacific and the Americas to be ratified by Congress.

A good example of Mr Gore's influence in former US president Bill Clinton's administration was the key role he played in the international negotiations which led to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol to help tackle climate change.