GOP declares Pence the winner before the vice presidential debate begins

Oct. 4, 2016: An image from GOP.com calls Mike Pence the 'clear winner' of Tuesday's vice presidential debate (Screenshot)

The Republican National Committee declared Indiana Gov. Mike Pence to be the clear winner of Tuesday night's vice presidential debate against Tim Kaine.

There was just one problem: The debate hadn't started yet.

About two hours before the face-off at Longwood University, the RNC's official website published a blog post titled "Who Won the Vice Presidential Debate". The post itself was triumphant in tone, saying that the "consensus was clear after the dust settled, Mike Pence was the clear winner of the debate."

The blog post goes on to say Pence's top moments of the debates were "Economy" and "Highlighting Hillary's scandals," with an obvious lack of detail.

"The other clear winner from tonight’s debate was Donald Trump," the post went on. "His running mate perfectly shared Trump’s vision to make America great again and that message is resonating with Americans all across the country."

The post was quickly taken down and replaced with a 404 page featuring an unflattering photo of Hillary Clinton.