There is no end of put-downs that attach to the job of vice president, a position that’s widely treated as irrelevant when its occupant is not ignored altogether.

So it’s hardly surprising the modern history of vice presidential debates is notably lacking in both gravity and moments of true political significance. In fact, since the first match-up of presidential understudies nearly 50 years ago, precisely zero have made a shred of difference in the race for the White House.

“There are so many other factors to consider,” said Chris Devine, a University of Dayton professor who’s written extensively about the vice presidency. “It’s not that voters don’t care much about the vice presidential debate. It’s that compared to everything else, it doesn’t matter as much.”

Even so, tens of millions of viewers are expected to tune in Tuesday night when Ohio Sen. JD Vance and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz meet in the New York City studios of CBS News for 90 minutes of backing-and-forthing.

Why bother watching?

“Vice presidents actually do matter,” said Jody Baumgartner, an East Carolina University expert on the office. “They are another voice that’s close to the president.”

And while some vice presidents have had more influence than others — Dick Cheney, say, as opposed to Mike Pence — each has been second in line to the presidency and all have been that proverbial heartbeat from stepping into the Oval Office and assuming the presidency.

“So, at a minimum,” Baumgartner said, a vice presidential debate “gives us, the American citizens, a chance to get to know who that [person] is … a sense of who they are and what might be all about.”

Devine offered another reason to watch, assuming issues are your thing. Without the distracting histrionics of the blustering Republican nominee, the Vance-Walz face-off could prove more substantive than the two presidential debates that took place this summer.

“When Donald Trump’s a presidential candidate, you get a lot of personality and controversy and all that kind of stuff,” Devine said. “People might think this is a better forum in which to get, from the horse’s mouth, what the different presidential tickets actually stand for.”

Not that the debate is likely to change a great many minds.

“The reality is it’s probably, for most people, going to function as an outlet for them to cheer on JD Vance or to cheer on Tim Walz,” Devine said.

If issues aren’t your thing — it’s OK, we don’t judge! — you might want to tune in Tuesday night hoping for the odd or unexpected. Some of the most resonant political moments in recent history have taken place on the vice presidential debate stage.

In 1976, in the first-ever televised vice presidential debate, Republican Bob Dole notoriously described World War I, World War II and others that Americans fought in the 20th century as “Democrat wars.” The number of killed and wounded “would be … enough to fill the city of Detroit,” he went on, adding salt to the slur. It took Dole years to live down his image as a political hatchet man.

In 2008, Republican Sarah Palin prompted days of discussion by winking her way through a debate with Democrat Joe Biden. (She winked at least six times at 70 million viewers, the largest audience ever to watch a vice presidential debate. It marked the first and only time in history a vice presidential debate has drawn a bigger audience than the match-up of presidential contestants.)

Four years ago, as Pence and Harris were discussing systemic racism, a fly settled on the snowy expanse of Pence’s white coiffure — and ended up walking away with the evening’s affair. Researchers at New York University analyzed online activity during the 90-minute session, as well as two hours before and after the debate, and found the fly was mentioned nearly 30% more, on average, than Trump, Biden, Pence or Harris.

But arguably the most famous vice presidential debate took place in 1988 when Republican Dan Quayle faced Democrat Lloyd Bentsen. Quayle, who was 41 at the time, had gone through a rough initiation after his surprise selection to serve as George H.W. Bush’s running mate.

Asked for the umpteenth time about his relative youth, Quayle said he had more experience than others who’d run for president and as much congressional experience as John F. Kennedy when he sought the White House.

Bentsen, with a gunslinger’s glint to his eye, cooly responded, “Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you are no Jack Kennedy.”

Quayle’s stricken look — a rictus of shock and humiliation — spoke to the devastation of the rejoinder after which, it’s fair to say, his callow image never fully faded.

Not that it mattered.

“It’s the most conclusive, definitive loss by a vice presidential candidate in any debate ever,” said Northeastern University’s Alan Schroeder, who has written an authoritative history of the high-stakes political match-ups. And yet, just a few weeks later, Bush and Quayle romped to victory.

So don’t tune in supposing Tuesday’s event will decide the Harris-Trump contest.

But if you’re the kind whose tastes run more toward C-SPAN than SportsCenter, fix a drink or pop some popcorn and settle in with JD and Tim and debate moderators Norah O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan.

You could be in for an entertaining, or at least interesting, evening.

The Department of Justice sued the State of Alabama and its top election official, alleging that they had removed voters who had previously been issued noncitizen identification numbers from its election rolls too close to election day.

Noncitizen identification numbers are a tax-processing number issued by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to ensure that people—including undocumented immigrants—pay taxes. Along with paying taxes, noncitizen identification numbers can provide legal migrants with securing a driver’s license and providing proof of residency.

After being sworn into office in January, Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen got to work to identify and remove 3,251 individuals who are registered to vote in Alabama who have been issued noncitizen identification numbers by the Department of Homeland Security.

“I have been clear that I will not tolerate the participation of noncitizens in our elections,” Allen previously said in a release. “I have even gone so far as to testify before a United States Senate Committee regarding the importance of this issue. We have examined the current voter file in an attempt to identify anyone who appears on that list that has been issued a noncitizen identification number.”  

ALABAMA ELECTION OFFICIALS SAYS BIDEN EXECUTIVE ORDER GIVES ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS ‘MECHANISM’ TO REGISTER TO VOTE

Now, the DOJ is pushing back and has filed a lawsuit against Alabama and Allen.

The agency argued that Allen violated the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA), which requires states to complete any changes to the voter registration lists no later than 90 days before federal elections.

Allen implemented the changes 84 days before, the DOJ alleged.

Signs directing voters are seen outside a polling place on March 5, 2024, in Mountain Brook, Alabama. (Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images)

“The right to vote is one of the most sacred rights in our democracy,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a statement. “As Election Day approaches, it is critical that Alabama redress voter confusion resulting from its list maintenance mailings sent in violation of federal law.

ALABAMA SECRETARY OF STATE ALLEN ANNOUNCES WITHDRAWAL FROM VOTER REGISTRATION GROUP

The DOJ also alleged that Allen’s removal of voter registration also impacted natural-born citizens who were incorrectly identified as potential noncitizens.

The Department of Justice seals is seen during a news conference at the DOJ office in Washington, May 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

The Justice Department seeks injunctive relief that “would restore the ability of impacted eligible voters to vote unimpeded on Election Day,” the department said in a statement.

“The department also seeks remedial mailings to educate eligible voters concerning the restoration of their rights and adequate training of local officials and poll workers to address confusion and distrust among eligible voters accused of being noncitizens,” the agency said.

Reached for comment late Saturday night, Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen told Fox News Digital, “I was elected Secretary of State by the people of Alabama, and it is my Constitutional duty to ensure that only American citizens vote in our elections.  

“As to the question regarding the Department of Justice’s lawsuit, this office does not comment on pending litigation where the Secretary of State is a named defendant.”

Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, M&Ms and other items made with certain synthetic food dyes will be expelled from California public schools, charter schools and state special schools under a bill signed into law Saturday by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Assembly Bill 2316, which will go into effect starting Dec. 31, 2027, spells the end for snack foods that contain the dyes known as blue 1, blue 2, green 3, red 40, yellow 5 and yellow 6. All are common industry staples that can give foods unnaturally vibrant colors in an effort to make them more appealing.

“Our health is inextricably tied to the food we eat,” Newsom said in a statement. “Today, we are refusing to accept the status quo, and making it possible for everyone, including school kids, to access nutritious, delicious food without harmful, and often addictive additives.”

The chemicals have been linked to developmental and behavioral harms in children, according to the bill’s authors, who cited a 2021 report from the California Environmental Protection Agency. They expressed hope that the new law can have ripple effects beyond the Golden State.

“California is once again leading the nation when it comes to protecting our kids from dangerous chemicals that can harm their bodies and interfere with their ability to learn,” said Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel (D-Encino), who introduced the legislation.

The new law “sends a strong message to manufacturers to stop using these harmful additives,” he added in a statement.

Flamin’ Hot Cheetos contain three of the six newly forbidden chemicals: red 40, yellow 5 and yellow 6. The ingredient list for M&Ms includes those three dyes as well as blue 1 and blue 2.

Other food items that could disappear from cafeterias and school vending machines as a result of this law include Cheetos, Doritos, sports drinks and sugary breakfast cereals such as Froot Loops and Cap’n Crunch.

For Gabriel, the bill is personal. He told The Times in March that he had been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder as a child. His son also has the neurodevelopmental disorder.

Last year, Newsom signed a first-in-the-nation ban on food additives found in popular cereals, candy, sodas and drinks, including brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate, propylparaben and red dye No. 3. That law will take effect Jan. 1, 2027, and impose fines of up to $10,000 for violations.

California lawmakers hope the bans will prompt manufacturers to reformulate their recipes.

AB 2316 faced opposition from the American Beverage Assn., the California Chamber of Commerce and the National Confectioners Assn.

The groups said food additives should be regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, not evaluated on a state-by-state basis.

But how or when the FDA will take action on the issue remains to be seen, said Melanie Benesh, vice president for government affairs at Environmental Working Group, which co-sponsored the law.

“The FDA should certainly also take action on these dyes, but that’s no reason to wait to make sure that kids in California are safe,” Benesh said after the bill passed the Legislature.

“There are plenty of alternatives to these chemicals,” Benesh said. “I think it’s on industry to find a way to reformulate and market their foods without using chemicals that may hurt our kids.”

In addition to the ban on food dyes, Newsom also signed a bill that aims to standardize information about the expiration dates on food products. AB 660 is designed to give consumers more clear and consistent information about the freshness of their food in the hope that it will reduce food waste.

“Having to wonder whether our food is still good is an issue that we all have struggled with,” the bill’s author, Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin (D-Thousand Oaks), said in a statement. The enactment of this bill is a “monumental step to keep money in the pockets of consumers while helping the environment and the planet.”

Erica Parker, a policy associate with Californians Against Waste, which co-sponsored the bill, said the legislation will get rid of the confusion consumers face when examining products that have the words “sell by,” “expires on” or “freshest before” printed on their packaging.

The result of that confusion “is a staggering amount of food waste. Californians throw away 6 million tons of food waste each year — and confusion over date labels is a leading cause,” she said in a statement when the bill was sent to Newsom’s desk.