STEVE BENEN

There’s an underappreciated point of distinction between Walz and Vance: At their debate, one will find it vastly easier to defend his running mate. When the vice presidential nominees share the stage, I’ll be watching to see just how much the Republican senator struggles, not only to defend Donald Trump's latest scandals, lies and missteps, but also to distance himself from his own condemnations of the former president — some of which he reportedly voiced as recently as 2020. It’s a challenge the Minnesota governor won’t have to worry about: He and Kamala Harris were, are and almost certainly will remain on the same page.

BRENDAN BUCK

Walz has lived a charmed existence since being tapped for VP, but we’re about to learn whether he can take a punch. It will be very interesting to see how he handles real scrutiny and tough questions, which he’s so far been able to avoid.

BRIAN TYLER
COHEN

Walz’s superpower is his relatability. Vance’s biggest liability is his inability to connect with human beings. I’ll be looking out for Walz to exploit that difference, especially by highlighting some of Vance’s more extreme positions on abortion, marriage, reproductive rights and more. We’ll see if Vance is suddenly going to run away from all of those Christofascist views that he was so quick to espouse on the right-wing podcast circuit before he became the Republican vice presidential nominee. My guess is that he’ll certainly try.

SUSAN DEL
PERCIO

Vance has a hard choice to make: try to show balance and get his historically low favorability numbers up or please Trump. This means he will have to attack but not cough up a hairball.  Gov., aka “Coach,” Walz must show that he is more than just a nice guy. He must show command of the issues and not fumble the ball.

CHARLES SYKES

Quite simply: Will CBS fact-check the candidates, or will it outsource that to the candidates themselves? This seems like an especially important question given JD Vance’s serial lies about Haitian immigrants, but it also goes to the question of whether the media has been browbeaten into eschewing its most important function: the dissemination of truth.