VP debate: Kamala shuts down Pence over ‘sexist’ interuptions as Pence’s pink eye and a fly steal attention ?

Biden V Trump: US election opinion polls

The historic vice presidential debate between Mike Pence and Kamala Harris has wrapped up with contentious exchanges over the coronavirus response, the environment, Trump’s taxes, the economy, and foreign policy.

Pence repeatedly went over his allotted time and interrupted Harris on multiple occasions, leading the senator to reprimand him with the words: “Mr Vice President, I am speaking.”

Pence accused Harris of undermining confidence in a Trump coronavirus vaccine, while Harris demanded to know to whom Trump owes money.

Twitter meanwhile was particularly distracted by a large fly that landed on Pence’s head and appeared to stay there for about a minute. There is also speculation that the vice president might be suffering from pink eye.

The VP nominees were face-to-face for the first time in Salt Lake City in what was billed as the most anticipated clash between two running mates in recent memory.

The debate was given approval to go ahead after both candidates returned negative coronavirus tests on Wednesday, and the CDC said Pence was not a "close contact" of Donald Trump.

Key Points

• Harris lands punches on Pence over Trump record
• Who won?
• CDC says Mike Pence isn’t a ‘close contact’ of Trump and safe to debate Kamala Harris
• Five questions as Harris and Pence prepare for face-off
• What to expect from the running mates
• Who is tonight’s debate moderator Susan Page?

[7 October 2020 15:55 · Joe Sommerlad]

What the two women who’ve run for VP before said about their own debates

Kamala Harris will tonight only the third woman in American history to take the vice presidential debate stage.

Andrew Naughtie has this on her two predecessors Geraldine Ferraro and Sarah Palin, what they said about their own experiences and what she could learn by looking at their performances.

[7 October 2020 16:15 · Joe Sommerlad]

These signs will tell you who is winning - Harris or Pence

Body language is often an important tell at these bouts, as we saw only too well last week when a wild Trump and an exasperated Biden made their feelings perfectly clear in Ohio even when they weren’t bickering.

"I expect the vice presidential nominees will be a lot more calm," Dr Tammy Vigil, associate professor of communication at Boston University, says of tonight’s occasion. 

"I think there will be some push back if there's disagreements, they'll be open, but they won't be as disagreeable as we saw in the first debate, so we'll get some assertion, some questioning, some push back, from candidates."  

Graig Graziosi has more.

[7 October 2020 16:35 · Joe Sommerlad]

Meet Douglas Emhoff, the lawyer who could become America’s first Second Gentleman

Danielle Zoellner has this introduction to Kamala Harris’s husband, a lawyer who’s in for a nerve-wracking evening in the wings.

[7 October 2020 18:09 · Justin Vallejo]

OPINION: ‘I went to Kamala Harris’s high school. Here’s why that matters’

For Independent Voices, Nicholas Boston writes that he hung out with the kids into alternative music; Harris was drawn to the performing arts crowd. In the background, a fierce debate about French and English raged.

[7 October 2020 18:25 · Justin Vallejo]

Moderator of tonight’s VP debate writing a Nancy Pelosi biography

USA Today’s Washington bureau chief Susan Page, hosting tonight’s vice-presidential debate, still has a few pages to get through writing her Nancy Pelosi biography, “Madam Speaker”.

It can be pre-ordered it on Amazon right now.  

Watch for this to attract criticism from the Trump camp, which has so far been focused on the moderator of the second presidential debate, C-SPAN’s Steve Scully, for interning for and socialising with Joe Biden, while also working for Ted Kennedy.

[7 October 2020 18:52 · Justin Vallejo]

Plexiglass barriers at Pence/Harris debate ‘pretty useless’ at protecting from Covid, experts say

This interesting commentary comes via the NYT, which spoke to Linsey Marr, an environmental engineering professor at Virginia Tech and an expert in airborne viruses – who laughed when looking at the debate setup.

“It’s absurd,” she said. When she first heard there would be a plexiglass barrier, she said, she imagined an enclosure with an open back or top. “But these are even smaller and less adequate than I imagined.”

Ellie Murray, an epidemiologist at Boston University, said: “Those plexiglass barriers are really only going to be effective if the vice president or Kamala Harris are spitting at each other. Those are really just splatter shields.”

The Biden/Harris campaign made the big push to have these barriers included on the stage as a condition for the debate going ahead, and the Trump campaign has already jumped on the Time’s reporting.

[7 October 2020 19:31 · Justin Vallejo]

Kamala Harris and Mike Pence test negative for coronavirus ahead of vice presidential debate

Just as well, given how useful those plexiglass barriers have turned out to be.  Harriet Alexander has the latest.

[7 October 2020 19:38 · Justin Vallejo]

CDC says Mike Pence isn’t a ‘close contact’ of Trump and safe to debate Kamala Harris

CDC Director Robert Redfield gave Pence the all clear after discussing the vice president’s movements with White House physician Jessee Schonau, saying the vice president not a close contact of any known person with Covid-19, including the president.

Pence has also tested negative ahead of the debate.

“The CDC concludes, from a public health standpoint, it is safe for the vice president to participate in the upcoming vice-presidential debate,” Mr Redfield said.

Read the full CDC statement.

[7 October 2020 20:20 · Justin Vallejo]

OPINION: Kamala Harris can seal the election for Biden tonight. Here's how

For Independent Premium, Carli Pierson writes if the senator can work ten times as hard as Mike Pence tonight, the rewards for Harris and Biden will be huge. 

[7 October 2020 21:10 · Justin Vallejo]

This is not a drill. 2Pac to be at VP debate.

Probably.

At least according to the Trump campaign, which is leaving a ticket for Tupac Shakur at tonight’s debate because Kamala Harris said in an interview he’s her favourite rapper alive.  

As any true believer will attest, Tupac is of course alive. Five shots couldn’t drop him, he took it and smiled.  

This is not a drill, according to White House reporters.

"We have left a ticket for Tupac Shakur, Senator Harris' favourite rapper alive... I'm personally more of a Biggie fan, if he's still alive, but we will have a ticket for Tupac," said campaign advisor Jason Miller.