Meet your potential future president during tonight's VP debate | McClatchy Washington Bureau

Welcome to McClatchy’s Voter Survival Guide, an interactive presentation of daily events from one of the strangest presidential campaigns in modern history.

Tim Kaine and Mike Pence will debate for the first and only time tonight at 9pm, with added focus on the vice presidential candidates because Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton would be two of the oldest presidents ever.

Donald Trump made curious comments about veterans yesterday at an event in Virginia, saying that veterans who suffer from PTSD are not “strong” and cannot “handle it.”

“I think it’s sickening that anyone would twist Mr. Trump’s comments to me in order to pursue a political agenda,” said Staff Sgt. Chad Robichaux, who asked the question that prompted Trump’s response.

Polls released on Monday were good news for Hillary Clinton, as they showed she is winning in many battleground states a week after the first presidential debate.

Vice presidential candidates Tim Kaine and Mike Pence debate on Tuesday in Kaine’s home state of Virginia, although it’s unlikely to command the attention of 80 million Americans like last week’s presidential debate.

The polls open nationally in 34 days. Let’s get started.

Trump’s comments on veterans

Every Trump campaign event has the potential to make headlines, and Monday’s chat with veterans in Virginia was no exception.

“When people come back from war and combat and they see maybe what the people in this room have seen many times over, and you’re strong and you can handle it, but a lot of people can’t handle it,” Trump said to a group of veterans. “They see horror stories, they see events that you couldn’t see in a movie, nobody would believe it.”

The veteran who asked the question to Trump said in a statement that he did not take issue with the comments.

“I took his comments to be thoughtful and understanding of the struggles many veterans have, and I believe he is committed to helping them,” Robichaux said. “I interpreted his answer to affirm that the system is broken and he would take the necessary steps to address it.”

Other veterans did not appreciate Trump’s comments.

“We’re talking about a person, in Trump, who believes that POWs aren’t real heroes,” said Jon Soltz, an Iraq War veteran and chairman of the Vote Vets organization.

Polls are looking up for Clinton

The post-debate polls are rolling in, and Hillary Clinton has opened up a lead in most of the key swing states. Clinton leads in Florida by five points, North Carolina by three points and Pennsylvania by four points, according to polls by Quinnipiac University.

Trump leads in Ohio by 5 points.

The debate of the dads is upon us

Tim Kaine and Mike Pence don’t evoke the same furor of emotion as Trump and Clinton, but whoever wins in November will play a crucial role in the White House.

Tonight at 9pm at Longwood University in Virgina Pence and Kaine will face off for the only time of the campaign.

Kaine, the subject of a questionable ad by the GOP on Monday, has walked the political tightrope as it relates to his Catholic faith. Pence faces questions about actions he took as Indiana governor.

Links of note

In the final weeks, Clinton dispatches the heavy hitters (McClatchy)

'Apprentice' cast and crew say Trump was lewd and sexist (AP)

Hillary Clinton, Seizing on Taxes, Says Donald Trump ‘Games the System’ (New York Times)

Alec Baldwin is a perfect Donald Trump (The New Yorker)

FBI agreed to destroy laptops of Clinton aides, lawmaker says (Fox News)

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