UPDATED 5.53pm An at times fiery debate between the Presidential running mates, Mike Pence for Donald Trump and Tim Kaine for Hillary Clinton has come down to an argument about abortion.
Both men are pro life, but Mr Pence was asked to defend Donald Trump's position that women who end pregnancies should be punished.
"Donald Trump and I would never support legislation that punished women who made the hard breaking choice to end a pregnancy."
When he was asked why Mr Trump had said they should be, Mr Pence said Mr Trump's not a polished politician like the other three running for office.
SEE ALSO: US correspondent Jennifer Strong speaks with Rachel Smalley about the Vice-Presidential debate
Mr Pence also defended Mr Trump's tax record after the Republican presidential hopeful was accused of dodging tax and refused to hand over his returns.
Mr Pence said Mr Trump did the right thing.
"He went through a very difficult time but he used the tax code just the way it was supposed to be used and he did it brilliantly.
When asked how Mr Pence knew that he replied:Â "Because he's created a business that's worth billions of dollars."
Mr Trump's support of Vladimir Putin was also defended by Mr Pence but he told Mr Kaine it has to be put into perspective.
In Syria, Iraq and in the Ukraine the small and bullying Russian leader has been stronger on the world stage than the American administration, Mr Pence said.
He said that's stating a painful fact and it's not an endorsement of Putin, more an indictment of the weak and feckless leadership of Clinton and Obama.
Unlike Mrs Clinton, Mr Kaine frequently interrupted Mr Pence who generally kept his cool, unlike his boss.
There were frequent clashes during the one and only Vice Presidential debate with Mr Kaine the most badly behaved.
Mr Pence was defending Mr Trump against attacks he's made about Mexicans and women when Mr Kaine had to back off after being told to do so by the moderator.
Mr Kaine defended the Obama administration's handling of the Middle East issue.
"Instead of 175,000 American troops deployed overseas we know have 15,000. These are very good things."
Mr Pence said that's true but Iraq's been overrun by ISIS because Mrs Clinton failed to renegotiate the status of forces agreement.
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