Gov. Mike Pence and Sen. Tim Kaine will face off in the vice-presidential debate Tuesday, a matchup that promises to be more about the VP candidates’ running mates than policy.

Kaine will surely try to trip up Pence by highlighting and questioning the differences he has with Trump on key areas, such as NATO, free trade, and Christianity.

If Pence can force Kaine to spend most of his time defending Clinton’s most reprehensible deeds, it could tarnish the Virginia senator’s reputation.

Pence, however, will likely draw attention to the scandals surrounding Clinton and her time at the State Department — especially her use of private email servers, mishandling of classified information, and orchestrating government favors for Clinton Foundation donors.

In this scenario, the clear advantage goes to Pence. All Pence needs to do is highlight the fundamental things that he and Trump do have in common. Kaine, on the other hand, will need to convince the country that Clinton can be trusted — a task of Herculean proportions at this point.

“[Kaine] will be something of a character witness for Clinton,” John F. Carroll, a professor of mass communication at Boston University, told LifeZette last week.

Of course, Kaine has already had quite a bit of practice at making excuses for Clinton’s brazen lawlessness and other questionable actions. On Sept. 4, he defended her mishandling of classified information during an appearance on ABC’s “This Week.”

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“There were emails that contained classified information that had been improperly marked,” Kaine said. “So when she received the email, the material that was classified, which is supposed to be flagged and identified as classified, in many instances was improperly labeled.”

“Now, I’m on two committees in the Senate, the Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees, where we do look at classified material,” Kaine continued. “But we look at so much material, unless it is specifically pulled out and identified, it is difficult to know sometimes whether a statement or a paragraph is classified or not. And that’s what she was saying,” he said.

In August, Kaine defended Clinton’s repeated lies about her emails on “The Today Show.” “If you ask somebody a question 150 times or 200 times, you’re gonna be able to find that they don’t use exactly the same word every time,” Kaine told NBC’s Savannah Guthrie. “There’s gonna be variations, and then people are gonna play on those,” said Kaine.

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Indeed, one has to give Kaine credit for his commitment to sticking to even the most demonstrably false claims in defense of his new boss. When questioned by CBS News about Clinton’s tendency to shun media interaction, Kaine said that “Hillary takes questions from reporters every day. She does. She talks to the press everywhere she goes.”

Kaine even defended Clinton’s calling Donald Trump supporters a “basket of deplorables” for having legitimate concerns about mass migration and globalization. “You’ve got to call that out. If you’re attacking immigrants, that’s deplorable. If you’re attacking LGBT Americans, that’s deplorable. If you’re attacking people because they’re Muslims, that’s deplorable,” said Kaine, resorting to the tired rhetoric of a leftist college student.

Unfortunately for Kaine, a strong defense of Clinton’s character could come at a cost. Kaine is at this point seen as a likeable — if not mildly buffoonish in a Biden-esque fashion — nice guy. If Pence can force Kaine to spend most of his time defending Clinton’s most reprehensible deeds, it could tarnish the Virginia senator’s reputation.