The Wingspan

Centennial High School's Daily Online News Source

The Wingspan

The Wingspan

Vice Presidential Debate (Charles Regnate)

The Vice Presidential debate between incumbent Joe Biden and challenger Congressman Paul Ryan took place on Thursday, October 11 at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky. Unlike the recent presidential debate, this debate was a true verbal sparring match where both parties came out fighting from the moment the starting bell rang.

The contrasts between the two candidates were visibly obvious. Silver-haired Biden, 69, appeared the elder statesman in contrast to a young ambitious Ryan, 42, who is a year younger than Biden’s oldest son. The incumbent brought his many years of experience to the table as he rattled off facts and figures to counterattack Ryan. For example, Ryan tried to attack the Obama 2009 stimulus plan. Biden then countered by telling the crowd how Ryan is contradicting himself because he asked Biden personally, via a letter, for stimulus money for his own state of Wisconsin.

Despite the age difference between the two rivals that spans more than two decades, Ryan showed his willingness to go neck to neck with Biden never losing his cool. Even though Biden boasted statistics about the Obama tract record, Ryan worked hard to poke holes in Biden’s accomplishments.

Public opinion after the debate seemed to lean towards Biden as the winner with Ryan a close second. This was a win-win situation for Ryan – a win for Ryan would mean he had beaten the odds against an experienced senator and in a loss he would still gain respect for trying. It was Biden’s debate to lose.

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