Incidentally, if you’re feeling dehydrated, Esquire’s debate drinking game is a good one to try. Sip every time they say “middle class?” Game over.

9:33:
Closing statements:
Biden: Says American’s are just looking for a fair chance and he wants them to be able to say, “It’s going to be okay.”

Ryan: “What kind of country are we going to be? What kind of country are we going to give our kids?” Obama’s America, he says, isn’t working.

“You deserve better,” Ryan says. “Mitt Romney and I want to earn your support … The choice is clear.” He drives home the point that he and Romney are math champs out to save the economy. Also, Paul Ryan is a champ at eye contact with the camera. I think he just won the debate with his eyes.

9:32: On character:

Ryan: “There are plenty of fine people who could lead this country.” But what we need are people with solutions and good policy. He again stresses it’s the economy we need to focus on.

Biden: Throws a little fit about time allotment (although he actually got more time to speak than Ryan), and says his whole life has been dedicated to the middle class. “I never say anything I don’t mean,” Biden says, which is apparently why we should vote for his ticket.

9:23: Moderator: Are you ever embarrassed by the tone of this campaign?

Biden uses the word “abomination,” but mostly skips answering the question and rambles on in his newfound serious voice. It’s a stark difference to the Biden we were seeing an hour ago.

Ryan: “If you don’t have a good record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone to run from.” He says this is a quote from Obama during the last election—and he must really like the quote, because this is at least the third time Ryan has used it.

Ryan: “We can’t keep spending money we don’t have.” He says that in the current administration, we get speeches and promises instead of plans.

9:20: Ryan does a pretty good job of making it sound like abortion is a suppression of freedom of religion and shouldn’t use taxpayer dollars. Biden says, “I accept the Catholic church’s view in my own life, but I refuse to impose it on others…” and that he refuses to believe the government should tell women what to do with their body—that’s probably going to be a winning comment in the headlines.

Biden brings up the probability that there will be new judges on the Supreme Court during the next administration, and what this will mean for the abortion issue…

9:16: The moderator just asked how the religious beliefs of the candidates have affected their stance on abortion. How are we supposed to have a separation of Church and State if it’s build into the question?

Also, while Ryan talks about why he’s pro-life, the camera zooms in on him not unlike soap opera cinematography.

Biden isn’t laughing now. He’s graduated to the slow head shake.

9:08: Check out this Instagram pic by user @katieegillmoree of the candidates’ faces during this debate. I wasn’t kidding about all the smirks and laughter!

Each VP candidate finds a lot of humor in the remarks of the other. Photo courtesy of Instagram user @katieegillmoree.

9:00: Romney says he doesn’t want to give a specific timeline for Afghanistan so enemies don’t just wait us out. Biden says the government in Afghanistan won’t step up unless the U.S. makes it clear we’re headed out.

9:00: Martha Raddatz, the moderator, is much better at interrupting them than Jim Lehrer was. Maybe that’s what’s making this debate better. Cheers to you, Martha.

8:58: Ryan says he doesn’t want to increase military spending, but he doesn’t want to cut funds, either. Again stresses it’s important not to appear weak in front of the Middle East.

8:54: These two are getting feisty about whether their plans are “mathematically possible.”

Ryan: “It’s been done before…”
Biden: “It’s NEVER been done.”
Ryan: “Um, it’s been done a couple of times.” He even adds the eye roll to that one.

8:49: “Our entire premise… is to grow the economy and create jobs… We think that government taking 28 percent of a small business’ income is enough,” says Ryan. He then lists a bunch of numbers, and I’m lost but impressed. Biden is audibly laughing now.

8:46: “This is what politicians do when they don’t have a record to run on,” Ryan says. Health care debate is getting HEATED. Poor Martha looks stressed.

8:43: Biden: “We will be no part of a voucher program or the privatization of Social Security.”

Ryan goes to great lengths to emphasize his plan is a very gradual one.

8:40: “They got caught with their hands in the cookie jar turning Medicare into a piggy bank for Obamacare,” says Ryan, and Biden can’t stop trying to interrupt.

“I know you’re under a little duress to make up for lost ground, but I think we’d be better off if we didn’t interrupt each other,” Ryan admonishes him. Someone had to say it!

8:36: Update: Joe Biden hasn’t yet informed us that something is a “Big F*ckin’ Deal”! No errant cursing whatsoever. Way to go, Joe.

8:28: “This is not what a real recovery looks like,” says Ryan, adding that Romney is a ‘car guy’ who cares about Detroit.

“Romney’s a good man. He cares about 100 percent of Americans in this country. And I think the Vice President knows that the words don’t always come out of his mouth in the right way.” -Ryan

OH BURN.

8:26: Economy time!
Biden: spouts a bunch of numbers about the economy his administration came into. And then he brings up Romney’s 47 percent comment! Guess the Democrats decided those remarks needed to make it into the debates after all. And now it’s Paul Ryan’s turn to get his smirk on.

8:24: “If we ever have to take action, we will have the world behind us, and that matters.” -Biden

8:20: Biden continues to laugh every time he’s not speaking. Is that his game strategy?

“This is a bunch of stuff,” says Biden. When asked to clarify, it turns out he’s talking about malarkey again!

8:15: We’ve moved on to Iran. Ryan says Iran is racing along in its arms technology and stepping up their terrorist attacks. Meanwhile, Biden is suffering an attack of the chuckles.

“There is no weapon that the Iranians have at this point,” says Biden. “So all this bluster… what are they talking about?”

8:13: Ryan:  We should have had more protection. “It was the anniversary of 9/11… it was Libya…”
Biden says the administration didn’t know about security concerns in Benghazi.

8:10: Bonus points to Biden for using the word “malarkey.”

8:07: Ryan – “What we are watching on our TV screens is the unraveling of the Obama foreign policy.”

8:05 p.m. – Martha Raddatz (Moderator, of ABC) starts off with Libya. That’s a somber start to this chat.