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(Reuters) – A stray housefly briefly commanded the U.S. national stage on Wednesday, creating a stir when it landed on Vice President Mike Pence’s cropped white hair while debating with his Democratic rival, U.S. Senator Kamala Harris.
The bug sat there for several minutes during the confrontation, distracting onlookers who were perhaps looking for a break from all the talk about taxes and trade.
“The fly won the debate,” Jeanne Duncan, a writer from Oregon, posted on Twitter.
The fly endured when the former Republican congressman and former Indiana governor shook his head and stood with Harris, looking confident knowing the candidate was in no condition to chase him away. Pence’s left eye was noticeably bloodshot.
A short time later, he disappeared, but his legend was only growing.
On Twitter, an account called @MikePenceFly quickly gained thousands of followers.
Harris’s running mate, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, posted a photo of himself with a fly swatter on Twitter, asking supporters to “put in $ 5 to help this campaign fly.”
His campaign created a website, flywillvote.com, to register voters. Within an hour, he was selling a “Truth About Flies” fly swatter for $ 10.
Pence staff decided not to take advantage of the uninvited guest. In a post-debate call, senior advisor Jason Miller had a different animal in mind. “We had a deer stare in Senator Harris’ headlights tonight,” he said.
Some Democrats took the opportunity to mention President Donald Trump’s COVID-19 infection. “The fly must be quarantined,” wrote Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar.
Republican Senator Rand Paul had a different twist: “The deep state planted a bug in @VP. This illegal espionage is really out of control.”
Stephen Colbert, host of “The Late Show” on CBS, suggested that by sitting on Pence’s hair for two minutes or so, the fly had a greater attention span than Trump himself.
(Reporting by Andy Sullivan; Editing by Howard Goller)
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