VP debate: Kamala shuts down Pence over ‘sexist’ interuptions as Pence’s pink eye and a fly steal attention ?
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Eric Garcia
Washington Bureau Chief
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.
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.
What the two women who’ve run for VP before said about their debates
Two women broke the major parties’ vice presidential glass ceilings – and both were obliged to debate more experienced male opponents
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.
These signs will tell you who is winning VP debate out of Harris and Pence
What does winning look like? Can a person look "vice presidential," and, if they could, would they want to?
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.
![](https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2020/08/13/16/gettyimages-1228019671.jpg)
Meet Kamala Harris’ husband, a hotshot lawyer who could become America’s first Second Gentleman
Mr Emhoff first met his wife on a blind date and the couple married the following year
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.
![](https://static.independent.co.uk/2020/10/06/23/GettyImages-1278166230.jpg)
I went to Kamala Harris’s high school. Here’s why that matters
I 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
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.
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.
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.
Kamala Harris and Mike Pence test negative for coronavirus ahead of vice presidential debate
Kamala Harris and Mike Pence have both tested negative for the coronavirus
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.
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.
![](https://static.independent.co.uk/2020/09/29/19/newFile-1.jpg)
Kamala Harris can seal the election for Biden at tonight's VP debate
This would be a walk in the park for the senator if she didn’t have to face racist and sexist prejudice. But if she can work ten times as hard as Mike Pence tonight, the rewards for Harris and Biden will be huge
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.
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