THE VICE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE: PENCE AND HARRIS HAVE THEIR SAY

 

Vice presidential debates are seldom memorable, but the October 7 contest between Republican Mike Pence and Democrat Kamala Harris broke new ground. Aside from the first appearance by a woman of color on the vice presidential debate stage,

this debate featured a fly who by the end of the evening had 4,067 social media followers. The Fly landed in Vice President Pence’s hair and stayed over two minutes. We could comment on the symbolism. But we won’t. Don’t ever say 2020 hasn’t been a strange year.

Beyond the adventures of The Fly, most post-debate analysis focused on whether it

changed the trajectory of a race that’s looking like a potential blowout. The Biden-Harris ticket entered the debate leading by 9.5 points in the fivethirtyeight.com polling average. Polls released right before the debate showed Biden-Harris ahead by as much as 16 points.

We agree with the pundit consensus that

nothing in the debate fundamentally changed the race even though CNN’s instant poll showed Harris winning, 59-38.   Women thought Harris won, 69-31.

 

Each Had Their Moments

Both candidates entered the debate with specific objectives, some multi-layered and nuanced. Pence, a smooth speaker who

politely, even gently, parrots Republican talking points, defended President Trump’s disturbing coronavirus, climate change, and foreign policy failures. He tried presenting more of a conventional Republican agenda and less of Trump’s personality cult, arguably describing a presidency that doesn’t exist. He pushed the

case Harris will lead Biden down a leftist, socialist path that over- taxes and overregulates. Pence made his points and got whatever mileage he could out of raising that set of issues.

Harris, being part of a ticket that’s ahead, but

still somewhat unknown herself, had to get people comfortable with the idea she can handle the presidency since Biden would take office at age 78. Responding to the succession question, she reminded voters of her resume as a three-time

elected official. She had strong moments on restoring America’s role in the world and the virtue in the Biden-Harris candidacy of having significant Republican support. She also tried laying out the ticket’s program since Biden didn’t get to in the first presidential debate

because of Trump’s interruptions and bullying. She effectively put the Affordable Care Act on the ballot with the reminder, “They’re coming for you,” when she identified a list of impacts terminating the act would cause. The instant poll results and the commentary suggested she succeeded.

 

Missed Opportunities

If both candidates had their moments, both missed opportunities. Harris, for example, could have used the Breonna Taylor question

in promoting how a Biden Justice Department might use federal civil rights laws in such cases and remedy the failures of Bill Barr as attorney general.  She also could have been stronger in her condemnation of the White House events that apparently spread the corona virus.

Pence, for his part, simply ducked a number of questions, like whether he had conferred with Trump about a transfer of power in light of the president’s covid-19 illness. The country needs an answer to that question and a good one might have done the Trump campaign some political good.  Pence may have been catering to Trump with his refusal to adhere to the time limits, but had he followed them, he might have gained credibility for making the debate process more dignified and civil. Critically, Pence didn’t answer the core values question of whether Trump will peacefully transfer power if he loses.             

 

Gender and Race

Inevitably gender and race were likely to

become part of this debate. The historic nature of the Harris candidacy assured that. The gender component manifest itself most in Pence’s incessant habit of exceeding his time (which moderator Susan Page of USA Today tried

controlling, mostly unsuccessfully) and the fact he frequently interrupted Harris. He didn’t do it as rudely and as aggressively as Trump did on September 29, but he did it. It didn’t go unnoticed. Women commentators on the cable networks took him to task, as did our female life partners. Like Harris, they didn’t appreciate Pence’s “lectures” about her record or approach to certain issues.

Pence also probably didn’t earn the Republican ticket any minority group votes by denying the existence of systemic racism or by supporting the grand jury findings in the Taylor case that resulted in no indictments against the police officers who killed her. Given the racial reckoning going on in the country, few reasons exist for taking those positions except knee jerk support for police or cultivating the backing of white nationalists and similar minded individuals. Perhaps Pence feared distinguishing himself from Trump.    

 

Back to the Fly

The Fly generated a lot of post-debate frivolity,

including Biden’s use of a fly swatter in a fundraising pitch. Debates in presidential campaigns often disappoint and people need something to talk about aside from each candidate’s delivery and style. The Fly added that this time. Still, it

was serious business as the vice-presidential debate – and we usually only have one – has become an important part in the process of electing a president. With both presidential candidates in their 70s, getting a sense of the woman and man who might replace them mattered.

Voters who want Trump’s policies – if not his style –  can take comfort in Pence’s performance, for all its flaws. He has some of Trump’s capacity for rudeness, but he wasn’t outlandish, just disconcerting. He knows the drill on the Republican agenda.

Harris showed she and Biden are on the same page. We think they have the better of it on policy, character, and preparation. Harris showed herself capable of taking the baton from Biden and running with it should that become necessary, suggesting she achieved her most important objective.           

THE FIRST PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE: JOE BIDEN AND DONALD TRUMP – A TRAIN WRECK IN CLEVELAND

Farce. Debacle. Disgrace. And those were the kinder terms applied to the first presidential debate held September 29 in Cleveland. Commentators expressed shock and dismay

at how the proceedings disintegrated into a shouting match involving President Donald Trump, Democratic challenger former Vice President Joe Biden, and moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News. MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow declared, “This sort of debate shouldn’t happen in a democracy.”

                 

It unfolded as it did because Trump wouldn’t comply with the rules. He constantly interrupted Biden and engaged in verbal battles with Wallace. Trump behaved that way

so consistently, he must have gone in with a strategy of provoking Biden into a temper tantrum or making him appear mentally unstable. For the most part, Biden kept his cool and, under trying circumstances, demonstrated command of his faculties.

The rules had been worked out between the parties, with each candidate given two minutes of uninterrupted time for responses to

questions from Wallace on six broad topics, followed by a discussion period. Instead of adhering to that, from the beginning Trump talked over Biden’s answers and sparred with Wallace about the nature of questions and his efforts to enforce the rules. At the end, many who watched found themselves exhausted and embarrassed. One of our daughters sent a text saying that after 45 minutes she’d broken into the wine and “tapped out.”  Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville said, “I was being paid to watch and I had a hard time getting through this.”

 

A Few Memorable Moments

Presidential debates often become known for a memorable line or a gaffe by one candidate. Who can forget Gerald Ford in 1976 claiming

the old Soviet Union didn’t dominate Poland? Or Ronald Reagan in 1980, telling Jimmy

                                                   

Carter, “There you go again?” Then there was George H.W. Bush looking at his watch in

1992, suggesting his impatience with being on stage with Bill Clinton and H. Ross Perot.  No such moment occurred in this debate. The closest anyone came was when Biden said about Trump’s handling of the pandemic, “It is what it is because you are who you are.” But there were things people will remember.

First, Trump wouldn’t, when given a direct opportunity, condemn white supremacy. Instead, he urged that a right-wing group known as the Proud Boys, “stand back and

stand by,” an ominous warning seemingly inviting preparations for future mayhem. Trump’s pass on condemning white supremacy earned him widespread condemnation in the media and from anti-hate groups.

Second, Trump wouldn’t recognize the military service of Biden’s late son, Beau.  When Biden told Trump his son wasn’t a “loser” or a “sucker” as Trump reportedly  described fallen

American soldiers, Trump attacked Biden’s other son, Hunter, for alleged improprieties in connection with business activities in Ukraine, allegations that have proved unfounded despite several investigations.

Finally, Trump demonstrated an astounding lack of respect for American traditions and empathy for people lost in the pandemic. Biden showed the opposite on both counts.   

Impact on the Race?

Beforehand, we laid out objectives each candidate might have, with the idea we’d look for how each did or didn’t achieve them. We quickly realized we couldn’t do that kind of analysis. Trump’s behavior defied a rational

accounting of objectives set versus objectives achieved. Trump took the role of Disrupter-in-Chief and the debate resembled a wrestling match with a pig in a mud puddle.

Dramatist George Bernard Shaw once warned about the danger of getting into such a contest. “You get dirty,” he said. “Besides the

pig likes it.” Biden did his best, succumbing only a few times to the  frustration. He had good moments when he faced the camera and spoke directly to the American people about race, the pandemic, their economic concerns, and climate change.

The entire ugly affair was so far off the norm of presidential debates there’s no framework – historical or otherwise – for  evaluating it. Biden

won a CNN “instant poll” of debate watchers, 60-28, but that wasn’t a sample of the electorate in general. Few pundits believed Trump’s bullying won him support anywhere except with members of his hard-core base. It will take several days before new polling tells us what the country as a whole thought.

Biden reportedly raised a record amount of money from on-line donations the night of the

debate, meaning his spending advantage should continue as the campaign moves into its final days. That fact made it more likely Biden can keep the advantage he began the debate with, a seven-to-eight-point edge in the polling averages published by websites like FiveThirtyEight.com and Real Clear Politics. That doesn’t address the damage the spectacle did to American democracy and our image in the world.   

Any More?

Currently, the schedule calls for two more

presidential debates – a town hall October 15 in Miami and another six topics-with-a-moderator encounter October 22 in Nashville. On October 7, vice presidential candidates Mike Pence and Kamala Harris square off in Salt Lake City. How much of that will actually occur?

After the Cleveland fiasco, cries rang out for calling off the remaining debates. That

probably won’t happen, but the possibility of a repeat of the first debate left a bad taste in many mouths.

Killing microphones when it’s not a candidate’s

turn to speak was suggested for the remaining debates. Everyone knew Trump wouldn’t agree to that, since disrupting things is his objective. But that suggestion made contemplating more debates palatable.

Advice anyone?         

KAMALA HARRIS AND HISTORY PART II: SHE WHO WOULD BE VICE PRESIDENT

 

Two women have tried doing what Kamala Harris now seeks to do as part of the 2020 Democratic ticket with Joe Biden – win the vice presidency. Their stories deserve review in our consideration of the historical significance of the Harris candidacy. Having examined her selection in the context of the fight for women’s suffrage and early women office holders, we turn now to her predecessors in the quest and the chance she has of becoming MVP -- Madam Vice President.

 

Geraldine Ferraro

Walter Mondale selected New York Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro as his run-

ning mate in 1984, making her the first woman on a major party ticket. Some Mondale supporters thought choosing a woman would galvanize the female vote for Democrats. It didn’t, though Ferraro’s selection provided Mondale an initial polling jolt. He moved to within striking distance of incumbent President Ronald Reagan after being down 16 points. Ultimately, most polls showed a small net gain for the Democratic ticket among women, but Mondale and Ferraro lost, 59-41, and carried only Washington, D.C. and Mondale’s native Minnesota.

Ferraro’s candidacy revealed significant sexism in American politics. First, allegations of financial improprieties in her husband’s real estate business, which she had little involvement with, blunted the initial momentum her selection generated. When reporters first questioned Ferraro about the business, she demonstrated only a modest understanding of the details of a family owned company in which she technically had one-half interest. Though she later handled every question at a late August news conference, the damage had been done.

Vice President George H.W. Bush appeared to patronize Ferraro in their debate, suggesting he could give her some “help” on foreign policy issues. She fought back, saying she didn’t appreciate such insults. Most observers at the time saw the debate as a draw.

Finally, Mondale and Ferraro rarely touched in joint campaign appearances. She said she feared somebody would say, “Oh my, they’re dating.” Presumably the country now has a more mature attitude about women in politics. In 2016, Hillary Clinton won almost three million more popular votes than Donald Trump, the U.S. Senate now includes 26 women, and 101 females hold House seats, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Nine women serve as governors. So far, Biden and Harris haven’t been bashful about clasping raised hands in the traditional show of running mate solidarity.

Sarah Palin

Chroniclers of the 2008 presidential election almost uniformly regard Republican John McCain’s selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his biggest mistake in that campaign.

While Ferraro faced skepticism about her foreign policy experience, she never demonstrated anything suggesting she wasn’t fit for the office. Palin showed herself totally unprepared. She mumbled about seeing Russia from her front porch and couldn’t name any news publications she regularly read.

Palin’s selection represented a sort of Hail Mary pass. McCain trailed Barack Obama badly in the polls and needed something that would jump start his campaign. Picking Palin initially gave the ticket a boost, even a brief lead in a few polls. It didn’t last in light of Palin’s obvious shortcomings. She garnered a cult-like following on the right, but Obama-Biden won the election by nearly ten million votes and took the Electoral College, 375-163.

 

Kamala Harris: Trailblazer

Even before Biden picked Harris, she’d made her mark on American politics. As we noted in our history of office holding by women, Harris is only the second black woman elected United States Senator, following Carol Mosley Braun, who represented Illinois 1993-99.  Harris twice won races for California Attorney General after serving as San Francisco’s district attorney.

In the Senate, Harris established a reputation as a tough, well-prepared interrogator in hearings. Those skills could serve her well in

the vice presidential debate against Mike Pence, an experienced politician who eagerly defends President Trump’s most outrageous behavior and false statements. She ran for president, though she dropped out before the 2020 primaries began.

Republicans have struggled in finding a consistent line of attack against Harris, perhaps demonstrating that they fear her. When Biden announced her selection, Trump latched on to her grilling of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh as “nasty” and “mean.” Trump later said electing her would “disgrace” the country, a not-very-thinly-veiled racial slur. Others tried decrying her immigrant heritage, suggesting she isn’t eligible for the vice-presidency. Her father came to the United States from Jamaica and her mother from India, but she was born in Oakland, California, making her as eligible as any other native born U.S. citizen.

History Unfolding

Harris acknowledges she stands on many shoulders, like those of Shirley Chisholm, Bella Abzug, Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan, and the founders of the

National Women’s Political Caucus. The women who fought for suffrage, the black women who worked for that right against the double whammy of sexism and racism, and the first women office holders played a part in making the Harris candidacy possible.

For the moment at least, Harris stands apart from Ferraro and Palin. The polls say she and Biden have a much better chance of winning than either of her predecessors.

While we assume she understands the history and appreciates the opportunity now before her, we also assume she understands the work ahead. She must stay on message. She must perform well in the vice presidential debate. She and Biden are, in football terms, in four down territory and can’t make mistakes.

If they succeed, Harris will honor women like Harriet Tubman, Chisholm, Susan B. Anthony, and Fannie Lou Hamer who blazed trails before her. She will also, for the young women and girls who follow her, shatter another glass ceiling.