The Note: Debate Expectations -- Veep Edition

— -- NOTABLES

--FIVE STORYLINES TO WATCH TONIGHT: Tonight marks a moment in the presidential campaign that is not squarely focused on the presidential hopefuls, but rather, on their running mates. Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence are facing off at the vice presidential debate at Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia tonight and there are several important story lines to keep in mind. Here are five of them, courtesy of ABC’s MEGHAN KENEALLY: http://abcn.ws/2dFkJ7x

--FUN FACT: Sources tell ABC’s CECILIA VEGA that Kaine and Pence have never met. The first time they will come face to face will be on the debate stage tonight.

--TODAY ON THE TRAIL with ABC’s RYAN STRUYK: Hillary Clinton will be in Pennsylvania today where her four-point advantage in yesterday's Quinnipiac University poll falls inside the survey's margin of error. She'll be with her daughter Chelsea for two events at noon and this afternoon. Clinton had been on the attack yesterday, saying Trump "gets confused between leadership and dictatorship" and blasting him over "contributing nothing to our nation" in taxes. Meanwhile, Donald Trump will host a rally in Arizona this afternoon, trying to lock down that light red state. Clinton's surrogates are also out in full force today across a series of crucial battleground states: Bill Clinton is in Ohio, Bernie Sanders is in Minnesota, Elizabeth Warren is in Nevada and Michelle Obama is in North Carolina. Each has an event or two throughout the day.

--ANALYSIS -- ABC’s RICK KLEIN: Let’s dispense with the quadrennial rhetorical before anyone gets to Farmville: Why can’t these guys be at the top of the ticket? There’s no real answer because there is no system or system of rewards in modern politics that serves to boost the national prospects of men with resumes and temperaments as predictable, even if they are impressive, as those of Tim Kaine and Mike Pence. So it’s worth taking them as they are: Two 50-something white guys with three kids who’ve been in Congress and served as governor – and were chosen to run for vice president by presidential candidates who needed many things out of them, though surely not pizzazz. None of that makes them, or their debate, unimportant. Thinking back to why they were chosen, and the importance to both Clinton and Trump of engaging their bases, policy will matter for 90 minutes at Longwood University on Tuesday night. Perhaps just as importantly, Kaine and Pence will have the ability to set up new storylines for the next presidential debate, as they take rare shots at dominating a few news cycles.

DEBATE PREP:

--HOW PENCE PREPARED. Though Donald Trump boasted he hadn't spent much time getting ready for his first head-to-head debate with Hillary Clinton, his running mate Mike Pence evidently took a different approach preparing for his own big night. "I am doing a little preparation for it. And a little bit more traditional than my running mate," Pence told radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt last week. Tonight, the Republican vice presidential candidate will face his Democratic counterpart Tim Kaine on the debate stage for the first and only time of this election cycle. According to a Pence aide, Pence has been preparing for the debate "since the night he received the call from Mr. Trump," reports ABC’s INES DE LA CUETARA. http://abcn.ws/2dqk9fU

--HOW KAINE PREPARED. As Tim Kaine prepares to walk onto the biggest political stage of his life at the vice presidential debate tonight, insiders and a former rival say one of his strongest assets will be the same thing that has helped him through a 22-year political career: his likability. He seems to know that too. As he left Mass on Sunday in Richmond, Virginia, Hillary Clinton's running mate told reporters that on Tuesday he just has to "be myself." "I'm calm," Kaine said of his upcoming debate with GOP vice presidential nominee Mike Pence. "Things work out the way they are supposed to." But behind the calm is intense preparation. ABC’s JESSICA HOPPER has more. http://abcn.ws/2dKDZVZ

BY THE NUMBERS -- CLINTON PULLS AHEAD OF TRUMP AFTER DEBATE. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has pulled ahead of Donald Trump after the first presidential debate, according to a new national poll. Clinton earns 47 percent support vs. 42 percent support for Trump in the CNN/ORC survey released on Monday afternoon. According to ABC’s RYAN STRUYK, Clinton's support climbed slightly after the debate from a neck-and-neck match-up last month. Another national poll from CBS News also shows Clinton with a slight lead, 45 percent vs. 41 percent. http://abcn.ws/2dDn03e

YESTERDAY ON THE TRAIL with ABC’s VERONICA STRACQUALURSI and ADAM KELSEY

TRUMP UNDER FIRE FOR COMMENTS ON VETERANS WITH PTSD. Donald Trump is getting flak for an answer he gave on what he would do to address issues around post-traumatic stress disorder and suicides by military veterans. "When people come back from war and combat, and they see things that maybe a lot of the folks in this room have seen many times over, and you're strong and you can handle it, but a lot of people can't handle it," Trump said, speaking Monday morning at a panel for the Retired American Warriors PAC in Virginia. ABC’s VERONICA STRACQUALURSI and ADAM KELSEY have more: http://abcn.ws/2dn9XWs

NY ATTORNEY GENERAL ORDERS TRUMP FOUNDATION TO STOP FUNDRAISING. In a cease-and-desist notice, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has asserted that Donald Trump’s charitable foundation is breaking the law, and ordered the Trump Foundation to stop fundraising in the state of New York, notes ABC’s KATHERINE FAULDERS. James G. Sheehan, head of the New York Attorney General's Charities Bureau, wrote that the Trump Foundation "shall be deemed to be a continuing fraud upon the people of the state of New York, if the organization fails to immediately “discontinue solicitation and to file information and reports“ within “fifteen (15) days of this notice.” http://abcn.ws/2dm3rlo

CLINTON SLAMS DONALD TRUMP OVER TAXES: 'THIS IS TRUMP TO A T.' Hillary Clinton on Monday slammed Donald Trump based on the recent report from the New York Times that the Republican presidential nominee could have avoiding paying any federal income taxes for nearly two decades. "While millions of American families, including mine and yours, were working hard, paying our fair share it seems he was contributing nothing to our nation," Clinton said during a speech on the economy in Toledo, Ohio. "Imagine that. Not fair. Nothing for Pell grants to help kids go to college. Nothing for veterans. Nothing for our military." ABC’s LIZ KREUTZ has more: http://abcn.ws/2dVwrPt

TRUMP TELLS COACH FIRED FOR PRAYING BEFORE FOOTBALL GAME, IT IS 'OUTRAGEOUS.' Donald Trump told a former high school football coach Monday that his firing was "outrageous." Trump, speaking at the Retired American Warriors PAC gathering, was discussing religion and mentioned the story of a local high school football coach who was fired in 2015 for praying ahead of his team’s game, notes ABC’s JOHN SANTUCCI. The coach, Joe Kennedy, a former Marine Corps gunnery sergeant, recently filed a federal lawsuit against the Bremerton School District in Washington state, claiming he was terminated because of his religious beliefs, according to Fox News. http://abcn.ws/2cNTRBm

BIDEN MOCKS TRUMP'S TWITTER TIRADES. Campaigning for Hillary Clinton in Orlando Monday, Vice President Joe Biden mocked Donald Trump’s recent early-morning tweet storm. "You don't have to be a psychologist or psychiatrist. But, what kind of leader awakens at 3 o'clock in the morning and tweets Hillary helped 'disgusting Alicia M. become a U.S. citizen so she could use her in a debate'? Or 3:30 in the morning. This guy wants to be president of the United States of America," Biden said at at a voter registration event in Orlando, writes ABC’s ARLETTE SAENZ. http://abcn.ws/2dniVmE

CLINTON SLAMS WELLS FARGO FOR 'EGREGIOUS CORPORATE BEHAVIOR.' Hillary Clinton slammed Wells Fargo Monday, holding up the bank’s ongoing accounts scandal as an example of “egregious corporate behavior,” and pledging to strengthen consumer protections and further scrutinize corporate America if elected. The remarks, made in Toledo, Ohio, bring renewed scrutiny to the bank, which has been in damage control mode since regulators alleged nearly a month ago that its employees may have opened as many as two million accounts without customers’ knowledge or permission over an approximately five-year period beginning in 2011, ABC’s PAUL BLAKE reports. http://abcn.ws/2d9t83l

WHO’S TWEETING?

@wpjenna: "We newspaper reporters are here to tell you that the actual worst job in America is running for vice president." http://wapo.st/2cOBYCn

@davidsirota: EXCLUSIVE: Pence-linked groups raked in $2M from casino industry, despite donation ban. Pence then boosted casinos http://bit.ly/2dbiM2I

@katiezez: What is going on with Rudy Giuliani? https://t.co/vZUd8guyD1

@deanemurphy: From the journalist who's seen Trump's tax returns: they reveal the career he boasts so much about is built on sand http://bloom.bg/2dFdVHK

@nytpolitics: "I misspoke tonight," Senator Kelly Ayotte said several hours after calling Donald Trump a "role model." http://nyti.ms/2dpk7Gi