Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Outbreak of virus turning spotlight on Harris, Pence
Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Kamala Harris will take the stage tonight under extraordinary circumstances that will elevate the oft-forgotten vice-presidential debate to the highest-stakes running-mate matchup in years.
With President Donald Trump fresh out of the hospital but still suffering from the coronavirus, both Pence and Harris will have to reassure voters that they can step into the presidency if either of the septuagenarians topping the tickets become incapacitated.
A week after Trump and Democratic nominee former Vice President Joe Biden squared off in a combative and chaotic debate, Pence and Harris will meet at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City under dramatically different circumstances. Not only have the safety precautions become stricter since at least 10 people who live or work at the White House have become infected with the virus, but the tone is expected to be more civil as well.
The debate will be divided into nine discussion categories, each lasting about 10 minutes.
Although the Trump campaign opposed it, Harris’s staff won an argument to have a plastic-glass shield separating her and Pence, who has tested negative for the virus that sent Trump to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for three days. The candidates will be a little more than 12 feet apart, and the moderator, Susan Page of USA Today, will be at that distance as well, the Commission on Presidential Debates said Monday.
Anyone who refuses to wear a mask will be “escorted out,” the commission said. The first family and some of Trump’s guests refused to wear masks at last week’s debate.
“This VP debate will get a lot more attention than they usually do,” said Charlie Black, a veteran Republican strategist. “So it’s an opportunity for both candidates. I actually expect a good debate.”
The candidates also are less likely to sling the ad hominem attacks that highlighted the Sept. 29 debate in Cleveland between Trump and Biden.
Harris has revived some of her lines since joining the Biden ticket, including calling Trump a “predator.” But with the president just a day or so out of the hospital, she is expected to shelve those attacks. That doesn’t mean she’ll hold back on criticizing the administration for what Democrats say is a gross mismanagement of the pandemic.
Pence, by contrast, is likely to continue the Trump campaign’s attacks of painting Biden and Harris as Trojan horses for the progressive wing of the Democratic Party and warning about a turn toward socialism. He is also expected to make the case that Trump is a better steward of the economy.
Harris has been practicing at Howard University in Washington, her alma mater. Former Democratic primary rival Pete Buttigieg, like Pence from Indiana, has been playing the vice president in mock sessions and is in Salt Lake City to help Harris.
For his part, Pence’s practice has been led by Marc Short, his chief of staff, and has included former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi.