US Election: five vice-presidential debate moments George HW Bush deliberately picked the much-younger Senator Dan Quayle to be his running mate in 1988. As Quayle faced off against his Senate colleague Lloyd Bentsen, he said that he was just as experienced as John F Kennedy was when he ran for President. In the end, though, Bentsen's great line had no effect on Bush and Quayle's lead in the polls. 2008 - Biden gets emotional Joe Biden was given simple instructions when he took the stage against Sarah Palin in 2008: avoid be patronising, stay focused and don't jeopardise our lead in the polls. Instead he gave a deeply emotional account of his own dealings with tragedy and with financial hardship. He choked up briefly, producing one of the debate's most memorable moments. 1984 - Let me help you George HW Bush fell into exactly that patronising trap during the only other vice-presidential debate involving a woman. He offered to help Geraldine Ferraro, Walter Mondale's running mate, understand the difference between the Iranian hostage crisis and the 1983 bombing of a US Marine barracks in Beirut. "I almost resent, Vice-President Bush, you're patronising attitude that you have to teach me on foreign policy," she said. 1996 - Chlorofluorocarbon Abatement Al Gore went into the 1996 vice-presidential debate knowing that he and Clinton were almost assured to winning a second-term. But there was a danger that the folksy Jack Kemp could win an upset victory by simply charming the viewers, leaving the wonky Gore looking awkward on stage. Gore offered him a deal: "If you won't use any football stories, I won't tell any of my warm and humorous stories about chlorofluorocarbon abatement." The audience, and Kemp, laughed and Gore went on to win handily.