Who is the real JD Vance? And 4 other takeaways from the vice-presidential debate

Partisans on both sides will have arguments for why their guy did well at certain times and not as well at others in the first and only vice-presidential debate Tuesday night between Republican JD Vance and Democrat Tim Walz.

This debate likely will not move the needle at all in this presidential campaign, because — first and foremost — no one votes for the vice-presidential pick. After all, the most important rule of being a running mate is, “First, do no harm.”

Short of a major mistake, VPs are unlikely to make a fundamental difference in the race. And there wasn’t one of those Tuesday night.

But there were five takeaways from an interesting night:

1. Will the real JD Vance please stand up?

On style, Vance was clearly more polished than Walz, and he likely accomplished what he sought out to do — appear more rational and agreeable than Donald Trump and, frankly, himself. But there’s a real question about who the real Vance is. He was once a Trump critic, who became one of Trump’s biggest cheerleaders. Since that transformation, he’s gotten a reputation as a hard-charging MAGA partisan willing to take on all comers, known for making controversial statements, whether about “childless cat ladies,” not caring what happens to Ukraine “one way or another” or propagating false claims about immigrants eating pets.

But with his popularity lower than any vice-presidential running mate in modern history, another Vance showed up Tuesday night — one largely respectful of his opponent. Vance even thanked the “folks at CBS,” a far cry from the booing that takes place on the campaign trail at his rallies when a reporter asks a question.

Vance also did a lot of laundering of Trump’s positions, especially on health care, child care and