Next to his foaming-at-the-mouth running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence can seem, well, pretty vanilla.

So vanilla, in fact, that nearly 60 percent of Americans haven't bothered to learn enough about him to have either a favorable or unfavorable opinion. His clash tonight in the vice presidential debate against Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, Hillary Clinton's number two, promises to be as lively as competitive paint drying.

Behind that bland exterior, however, is a man who's spent his political career catering to the far-right fringe of Christian conservatism.

Pence personally helped unleash a decade of hell on women's reproductive health care: He's credited with launching the GOP's crusade against Planned Parenthood and abortion access, sponsoring the very first proposal (and many thereafter) to strip the organization of all federal funding while in Congress in 2007. He co-sponsored bills to mandate invasive ultrasounds prior to abortion and to redefine rape so that only pregnancies resulting from "forcible rape" (as opposed to "regular rape," I guess) would be eligible for termination.

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As governor, he oversaw such drastic funding cuts to Planned Parenthood that one county suffered an HIV outbreak after its sole clinic – run by Planned Parenthood – was forced to shut its doors. That particular clinic didn't even offer abortion services.

Just as nightmarish is his record on gay rights. Pence supported and signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in Indiana, allowing businesses to discriminate against LGBT people and deny LGBT employees health coverage, all under the guise of religious rights. He even invited anti-gay lobbyists to stand behind him as he signed the bill into law. Other GOP governors rejected similar legislation in their states as too extreme, but not Pence.

Beyond being a vocal opponent of marriage equality – he co-sponsored the Federal Marriage Amendment while serving in Congress and once attributed restrictions on same-sex marriage to "God's idea" – Pence advocated that federal dollars be spent on gay "conversion therapy," the discredited idea that cranks say can alter sexuality. As a member of Congress, Pence voted against measures that would prohibit workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation, against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and against the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

It's not just women and LGBT Americans Pence has targeted throughout his career; it's also the poor and working class. Tens of thousands of unemployed food stamp recipients in Indiana were kicked off the program early thanks to Pence. He could have requested additional federal funding for his state's program, but instead restricted benefits for people who didn't meet certain work requirements. Pence explained his reasoning by saying he was "ennobling" these hungry, unemployed Americans to find a job.

In many ways, Pence is the more dangerous man on the GOP ticket. Trump has no real policy positions or principles – nothing constant, really, beyond siding with those who last fluffed his ego and against those who last hurt his feelings on Twitter.

Pence, on the other hand, represents just how far right the modern day Republican Party has swung. “The most conservative vice presidential nominee the country has seen in 50 years,” hailed the American Conservative Union. Trump, whether he wins or loses, is an anomaly. Dangerous men like Pence are here to stay long after 2016.

And if Trump does win the White House, he reportedly plans on having his vice president run point on all "foreign and domestic" issues, according to his son Don Jr. (a report Trump later denied). That would make Pence's priorities the nation's priorities – a dangerous proposition for anyone who isn't wealthy, white, evangelical and male.