Eleven Three Twenty: My Take on Last Night’s Vice-Presidential Debate

October 8, 2020

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In yesterday’s column, I wrote that the three things I’d be looking for in last night’s debate between Vice President Mike Pence and Senator Kamala Harris were the tone of the candidates, their answers to tough questions, and how Presidential they appeared. My thoughts on how they handled those three are just part of the following 10 observations or conclusions after watching the debate and following people’s real-time responses online during and after the debate:

1. The old adage about Vice-Presidential debates is “First, do no harm.” The last thing a Presidential campaign wants is for the understudy to screw up. And both the Vice President and Senator passed this important test. There were no major faux pas or controversial moments that the campaign will have to fix today. In fact, the most memorable part of the debate for the casual viewer was when a fly landed on the Vice President’s head and remained there for a full two minutes, ensuring that THAT’S what this debate will be remembered for. And as strange as it may seem, I’m guessing both campaigns are okay with that — especially the Biden camp, which seized the moment by tweeting out a picture of him holding a fly swatter with the caption: “Pitch in $5 to help this campaign fly.”
2. Overall, I think the Biden…