CNN Opinion asked commentators to weigh in on who performed best at the vice presidential debate — and what moments stood out to them the most.
(CNN)CNN Opinion asked contributors for their takes on how Mike Pence and Kamala Harris did at the vice presidential debate.
Has the race changed as of tonight because Pence kept talking over his time and Harris wouldn’t answer whether she supported adding justices to the Supreme Court?
Given her immense skill as an orator and in debating, Harris was incredibly restrained — even sticking to her time when Pence kept going over.
California Sen. Kamala Harris easily won the debate, as Vice President Mike Pence showed an unexpectedly rude side of his personality.
But because (unlike his boss) he can put together complete sentences, Pence was able to pack in more whoppers per second than Trump did in last week’s deranged presidential debate.
Kamala Harris flopped in epic fashion tonight, while Vice President Mike Pence followed in the footsteps of Joe Biden (2012) and Dick Cheney (2004), former vice presidents for incumbents presidents who had tanked in their opening debate, and then saw their number two’s step up and right the ship.
Pence did what Trump failed to do in his debate against Biden—recognize his opponent’s mistakes and then clearly drive home the winning point.
The exchange over packing the Supreme Court was an epic failure by Harris (and Biden last week), and Pence played it perfectly.
Harris knocked the tar out of Vice President Mike Pence on the Covid-19 pandemic in the beginning and ended strong, talking about justice for all Americans.
It wasn’t as buffoonish as President Donald Trump’s performance last week—Vice President Mike Pence remained calm, avoided petty insults and stuck mostly to talking points — but that was, in a way, worse.
It wasn’t just a bad look for the Trump-Pence ticket, it was an insult to the very women they need to stay in office.
And it allowed them to understand that there are stark differences in policy between what four more years of Donald Trump would look like, as compared to a Biden-Harris administration.
Vice President Pence’s ability to characterize Kamala Harris and the Democratic ticket more broadly as overly progressive was his biggest accomplishment of the night.
For example, Pence’s assertion that Biden’s interest in repealing the Trump tax cuts will mean tax hikes for all voters on day one of a new administration was an effective attack that was largely left unanswered by Harris.
These are the economic issues on which the Trump-Pence ticket should focus their fire in the closing weeks of the campaign.
It’s unlikely that the VP debate will ultimately have any real impact on the election unless Trump can execute these substantive attacks against Joe Biden in the same disciplined way that Pence did on Wednesday.
If there was one omen about Wednesday night’s debate, it came from the fly that landed on Mike Pence’s hair and stayed there.
And that’s bad news for the Trump-Pence 2020 ticket.
Mike Pence and Kamala Harris gave us a preview of where each might lead their parties after their septuagenarian ticket-toppers retire.
Senator Kamala Harris won the debate the moment she said, “You respect the American people when you tell them the truth. ” When speaking in defense of the Trump Administration’s record, no surrogate should ever utter the words facts, truth, and honesty.
Pence made this mistake early in the debate by praising the “transparency” of Trump’s Covid-19 response and was quickly called to the mat by Harris, who used the word to pivot to Trump’s obfuscation on his taxes, personal health, and myriad other issues.
Where Trump scared off voters with his aggressive debate performance, Pence went overboard when he commended VP Biden’s public service and Senator Harris’ historic nomination.
Senator Harris made it clear to viewers what is at stake with the Trump-Pence ticket: “They’re coming for you. “
First, had Sen. Kamala Harris melted down, committed some galactic stumble, bumble or tumble, and failed to effectively defend former Vice President Joe Biden and attack Vice President Mike Pence, she might have hurt Biden badly, raising public concern that would have reflected badly on his judgment on a vice-presidential pick.
Instead Harris performed very well (in fact better on the debate stage than her putative boss) demonstrating competency, compassion on the issues and humor and toughness in standing up to Pence.
Harris did well in taking apart the administration’s record, helped by Pence’s talking points untethered from reality that made it unmistakably clear that Democrats take seriously the gravest threat to America’s public health in a century and Republicans don’t.
