Last night's vice presidential debate between Mike Pence and Kamala Harris in Salt Lake City was far more civil the the Biden-Trump rumble of a week ago. The way I scored it is that Harris won on points but she failed to meet the lofty expectations of her campaign. Pence with more than a few lies, held his own.
Harris rightly made the debate a referendum on Trump's handling of the COVID-19 debacle and Pence tried to make it choice between Trump and the perceived leftwing inclinations of the Democrats. He made the case for Trump far better than Trump did a week ago, by highlighting Harris' prior anti-fracking and pro-Green New Deal stances. However Pence failed to say the Trump campaign would accept the consequences of a Biden election. And Harris ducked the question of whether a Biden Administration would support packing the Supreme Court.
Both candidates ducked moderator Susan Page's question as to what abortion regime would they support for their respective states should Roe v. Wade be overturned by the Supreme Court. Harris did not want to come out in favor of no restrictions on abortion and Pence did not want to come out in favor of complete restrictions. They do represent the polar opposites on that issue.
As a result I don't think the debate changed any minds and given Trump's statement today that he will not participate in a virtual debate, last night's event was likely the last debate of the campaign, a campaign that Biden is now likely to win.
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