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Seated, with every Plexiglass between them, Harris and Pence took the stage here in Salt Lake City, Utah. The debate was much quieter than the one between Donald Trump and Joe Biden last week, but quieter doesn’t mean it was kind.
Tonight’s debate also included a lot of “thanks” from moderator Susan Page, as she tried to get the candidates, especially Pence, to be served at the time they were given. Kamala Harris obviously had a special tactic when Pence interrupted her a few times. “Excuse me, I’m the one talking,” he said, straining the prosecutor’s eyes at Pence.
When the debate ended, the host had still managed to give the candidates almost second as much airtime, 36 minutes and 24 seconds for Harris and three more seconds for Pence.
But the factual political content had to occupy an important place. Both Harris and Pence made successful rhetorical comments on, among other things, handling of the crown pandemic that Harris called “the greatest failure of a presidential administration in the history of our country,” and on Harris’s history as a prosecutor where Pence criticized her for focusing on petty drug-related crimes.
Many unanswered
The Americans thus received many responses from the candidates. But, above all, they did not receive an answer either. It was almost the World Cup in dodging. Kamala Harris never answered whether she and Joe Biden want to re-lock the country or introduce national rules on coercion.
She also declined to answer a question from Pence about whether she and Biden will try to change the number of Supreme Court justices if Republicans bring Amy Coney Barrett to court. A sensitive question that Biden didn’t want to answer either, because he called it a distraction from the question of why Republicans are trying to “force a Supreme Court justice” when millions of Americans have already gone to vote.
Pence, for his part, did not answer whether he believed he was responsible for the White House hosting the ceremony where Barrett was introduced at the Rose Garden, an event that likely led to the widespread spread of the corona virus among the American political elite. Pence also did not respond to the question of whether he would like to ban all abortions in his home state if the Supreme Court broke the right to abortion in Roe v. Wade. None of the candidates responded if they had discussions about the death process of Trump, 74 or Biden 77.
And so it continued, in a rather tiring way.
Therefore, perhaps the most memorable moment of the debate was the fly that suddenly landed on Vice President Pence’s white hair. Within minutes, the newly created “Penceflytrap” Twitter account had gained 500 followers (probably more when you read this).
Quieter than the last
In other words. Yes, the debate got quieter than last time. And yes, there was a lot of talk about factual politics, albeit with few responses. But the only major answer I think the Americans got after tonight’s debate was the question of whether Harris and Pence could lead the country if their respective presidential candidates died.
The answer was yes. Both Kamala Harris and Mike Pence had presidential appearances, weighed down by the seriousness of the moment, but with few exceptions respectful of each other and the moderator.
So the voters? I think few Americans switched sides after watching the debate tonight. Pence did better than many thought, and Kamala Harris also made a steady impression.
