No Sparks No Substance And A Fly

Wednesday’s night vice-presidential debate lacked the fireworks or dramatics of the Presidential debate a week prior, but it did provide some insight into how both campaigns look to handle the final 30 days of the election.

Both candidates came into the debate with pretty clear objectives. Kamala Harris and the Biden campaign are up in many polls and are looking to hold onto that lead rather than expand it, so they played it safe. Harris, who has become known for her viral moments (Calling out Joe Biden during the Democratic primary debates & also being called out by Tulsi Gabbard) looked gracious throughout the night showing she wouldn’t be pushed around. While still smiling and nodding most of the night when interrupted by Mike Pence.

Here’s one of her more aggressive pushbacks of the night

Harris was strong in her attack of what Pence, the head of the coronavirus task force, hasn’t been able to accomplish in handling Covid-19, which has killed 210,000 Americans with numbers growing. She also found herself playing defense in response to Pence bringing up her record as a state prosecutor - in particular the disparity in her incarceration rates for Black American males.

Mike Pence oddly did a very good job for what his campaign needed.

The Trump administration needed some positive news going into the home stretch of the election. Just a quick recap of what they’ve had to deal with in the last month.

Accusations Trump knew of bounties put on coalition soldiers and did nothing about it, the controversy around their latest Supreme Court justice nomination, The disaster which was the debate last week, and Donald Trump contracting Covid-19.

Did Mike Pence win any points for the administration Wednesday night? Probably not, but what he did was actually give the American people a chance to hear what the administration had to say, directly, and I can’t say that wasn’t a win for them.

What this debate ultimately came down to was the evasiveness of both candidates to answer questions directly. It happened more with Pence than Harris, but both candidates did so nonetheless.

Neither candidate answered if they had conversations with their running mate about what would happen in regards to each’s age and health. Harris wouldn’t give a clear answer in regards to stacking the courts & Pence wouldn’t answer whether Trump would peacefully transition power if he lost the election or whether or not he would be in favor of overturning Roe vs. Wade as law of the land.

For both candidates and campaigns answering these questions could ultimately do more harm than good among undecided voters. However, the questions aren’t going away, whether it be about the future of abortions or Supreme Court.

While there was a lack of substance throughout the debate last night there was at least one viral moment.

So while I don’t know whether or not the citizens of the United States learned of any plans these administrations have, we did get a fly making a home in Mike Pence’s hair on national tv and that’s a win for all of us.