US Vice President Mike Pence and Senator Kamala Harris face off in a Vice Presidential Debate.
Washington:
Wednesday night’s game between Vice President Mike Pence and Democratic challenger Senator Kamala Harris opened without the fireworks that marred last week’s chaotic debate between President Donald Trump and the former Vice President Joe Biden. But Trump’s COVID-19 infection, and his and Biden’s advanced age, make it perhaps the most important U.S. vice-presidential debate in living memory.
Here are some things to watch out for:
Coloring inside the lines
Following last week’s chaotic and insulting debate between Biden and Trump, moderator Susan Page warned the two candidates that she will strictly enforce rules designed to ensure decorum.
“We want a lively debate
But Americans also deserve a civil discussion, ”she said.
The two candidates had the best behavior initially and concluded their statements when warned by Page. “Senator Harris, it is a privilege to be on stage with you,” Pence said – after Harris said the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus was “the biggest failure of any presidential administration in the world. history of our country. “
Dinging Bident on plagarism
Applicants usually show up with a quiver of prepared one-liners, and Pence lost one early on.
He accused Biden of copying the Trump administration’s plan to fight the coronavirus, tracing accusations of plagiarism that helped sink Biden’s first presidential election in 1988. “Sounds a bit like plagiarism, what Joe Biden knows a little bit, “he said.
Inordinate importance
In 2008, when he was Barack Obama’s vice president, Biden said that “no one decides who he will vote for based on vice president.” Yet this debate is of disproportionate importance
Biden, 77, said to be America’s longest-serving president
Trump, a little younger at 74, spent the weekend in a military hospital outside Washington after contracting the novel coronavirus. From a purely actuarial standpoint, Pence, 61, and Harris, 55, would be more likely to rise to the presidency than other vice-presidential candidates
It will definitely be a major subtext on Wednesday night
Pence also carries an additional burden as he was tasked with campaigning for the ticket as Trump was sidelined due to his COVID-19 infection
Barriers and masks
Eager for all the perks, campaigns often argue over everything from debate format to podium height, but this time around they have been at odds over coronavirus protections.
The Salt Lake City debate scene will feature a plexiglass barrier between the two candidates, which was put up over objections from Pence aides.
The debate organizers also distributed salmon-colored masks to all debate participants and cordoned off alternate rows in the theater where the debate will be held to promote social distancing. a powerful reminder that opinion polls show coronavirus to be the most important issue for voters, going beyond traditional concerns such as the economy and national security
Pence led the Trump administration’s coronavirus task force as the pandemic killed more than 210,000 Americans and shut down large swathes of the economy. Members of Trump’s entourage refused to wear masks during of last week’s debate in Cleveland, just two days before he and his wife. , Melania, tested positive
The Presidential Debates Commission said anyone who does not wear a mask will be “escorted”.
Guest list
In addition to the campaign’s insider and VIP regulars, the two candidates invited a handful of guests as a symbol of their priorities. Pence invited the parents of Kayla Mueller, who
Authorities say she was tortured and sexually abused by Islamic State activists before she was killed in 2014
The Justice Department said on Wednesday that two suspects in her death had arrived in the United States to stand trial. Carl and Marsha Mueller said the Obama administration should have done more to save her and pleaded for of Trump during the Republican nomination in August. Pence also invited business owner Flora Westbrooks, whose hair studio was destroyed in riots in Minneapolis following the police murder of black man George Floyd and Ann Dorn, the widow of ‘a retired policeman who was killed during protests in St
Louis.Harris has invited Democratic State of Utah Representative Angela Romero and Deborah Gatrell, Salt Lake City Council candidate and former military helicopter pilot who currently works as a teacher.
The campaign said in a press release that “they both demonstrate the resolve that hard-working Americans have shown as Donald Trump has failed to control the virus and save the economy” .
