Tonight’s presidential debate will notably have no audience members, but would-be Donald Trump running mates will be nearby anyway, ready to tell the world he did an incredible job—in the hopes of clinching the VP nomination.

Senators J.D. Vance, Marco Rubio, and Tim Scott, as well as representatives Elise Stefanik and Byron Donalds, North Dakota governor Doug Burgum, and former HUD secretary Ben Carson—all of whom are said to be under consideration for the number two job—will reportedly watch the CNN debate at a party in Atlanta hosted by former Georgia senator Kelly Loeffler and her husband, with help from the cochairs of the RNC; tickets cost $10,000 per couple, or a cool $25,000 to sit at a table with VP contenders. And as “Politico Playbook” noted today:

Tonight won’t just be about Trump’s and Biden’s performances. The former president has less than three weeks now to select a running mate—and you can bet the TV-obsessed former Apprentice star will be watching how well each wannabe VP on his short list performs in postdebate spin rooms.

Regardless of how the ex-president does on the debate stage, the VP contenders will undoubtedly insist he ran circles around Biden, who Trump and his allies have spent weeks claiming will be on drugs tonight. (House Speaker Mike Johnson, daring to break with Trump, said Tuesday that, contrary to what the ex-president has suggested, “no one expects that Joe Biden will be on cocaine.”He added, however, that Biden could “be on some sort of energy drinks or something.”)

In an interview with Fox & Friends on Wednesday, VP hopeful Vance, looking ahead, suggested that he would be able to easily beat Kamala Harris on the debate stage. Asked about his past criticisms of Trump, which have been replaced by nonstop ring-kissing, the Ohio lawmaker said: “I just think the results [of his first term] were so good.”

Quick reminder

In other words, the answer is no, she won’t

Kevin McCarthy earlier this month: Biden can’t remember anything. Kevin McCarthy on the eve of the debate:

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