Vice presidential debate live: Watch Paul Ryan and Joe Biden debate in Danville, Ky

The Washington Post will live stream the vice presidential debate between Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Vice President Biden (D) beginning at 9 p.m. You can watch it live on The Grid, The Post’s home for live, social events, and follow along with Post reporters for context, analysis and fact checks. What should the running mates’ respective goals for the night be? The Washington Post’s David Fahrenthold wrote on the number one rule for vice presidential debates: If everyone ends up talking about the veeps themselves, they’re doing it wrong:Since 1976, there have been eight televised face-offs between vice presidential nominees. The ninth will come Thursday, when Vice President Biden debates Republican Rep. Paul Ryan (Wis.) in Danville, Ky. By now, both parties have worked out tactics for this odd ritual. They require the barbed wit of an insult comedian and the humility of the hind legs in a two-man horse costume. Candidates are told: Talk up your running mate. Zing your opponent. But avoid letting your career or your policy ideas become the focus. On the biggest night of your political life, it’s not about you. On Thursday, the stakes will be unusually high, and the job of playing second banana especially tough. Biden spent 36 years in the Senate. Ryan crafted a plan for remaking the entire government. Now, these proud, successful men will have to insist — convincingly — that they’d rather talk about somebody else. “Whatever you stood for, you stand for the team” now, said Samuel Popkin, a professor at the University of California at San Diego who has helped coach Democrats in debates. Popkin said the task might be especially touchy for Ryan, because Romney has said he would not adopt Ryan’s famous budget plan in full.