Watch Live: Pence-Harris Vice-Presidential Debate

Socially-distanced 12 feet apart and seated behind 7 foot high plexiglass barriers (presumably to stop them spitting at one another), Vice-President Mike Pence and Senator Kamala Harris will square off mano-a-womano in tonight’s vice-presidential debate of this 2020 election circus campaign.

The stakes couldn’t be much higher for Mike Pence heading into his first (and luckily for many, only) face-off with Kamala Harris as the Biden-Harris ticket continues to expand their lead in the national polls. Although, while many mainstream media types proclaim Biden’s “unassailable” lead, we do have one ‘awkward’ chart to share before Trump-Pence are written off into the annals of history. They are performing considerably better than they did against the “guaranteed and deserved winner” Hillary Clinton…

The pattern is certainly very similar – but what will the outcome be this time?

After the Trump-Biden dumpster-fire – with both candidates and the moderator repeatedly interrupting one another – tonight’s debate between Pence and Harris is far less likely to devolve into cacophony.

Instead, it seems more likely Pence will highlight two extremely unflattering aspects of Kamala Harris: her prickliness and her radicalism.

And, as RealClearPolitics’ Susan Crabtree notes Harris will focus on attacking the vice president’s nice-guy reputation, pointing to Pence’s previous opposition to same-sex marriage and related issues impacting the LGBTQ Americans. The issue of LGBTQ rights could come up after Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito issued a broadside against the high court’s same-sex marriage decision on Monday when the court declined to hear a case brought by a former Kentucky county clerk who refused to issue a marriage license for same-sex couples.

By now, Pence is used to playing good cop to Trump’s bad one. As a former radio talk show host, he knows how to serve up disciplined sound bites aimed at a target audience. But, as RealClearPolitics’ Susan Crabtree notes, no one expects Harris to make it easy for him or to pull her punches after her record of fierce attacks against Biden and other opponents in the Democratic primary debates.

 

And while the world and their pet rabbit is confident that this debate will not show the kind of moderator bias that Chris Wallace did, we suspect that may not be true…

Meet tonight’s VP Debate moderator, Susan Page. Oh and it looks like she has a book out, too. 👇🏻 pic.twitter.com/PxWrmM8BQM

— Cari Kelemen (@KelemenCari) October 7, 2020

Sigh!

Watch Live (Due to start at 2100ET):

And for those who – like us – will need a drink to get through this – here is some guidance from Jane Recker at Washingtonian.com:

Grab a fifth (or a keg) and play along (responsibly)…

Drink When Pence:

• Talks about how he’s a Christian. Drink twice if he explicitly describes himself as “A Christian, conservative, and Republican, in that order.”

• Mentions “Mother.” As in his wife, not his actual mother.

• Shakes his head while Harris criticizes Trump

• Brings up how Biden and Harris fought in the primary debates

• Emphasizes the need to “restore American values”

Drink When Harris:

• Mentions how close she was with Beau Biden

• Criticizes Pence on his record as head of the coronavirus task force

• Says “nobody is above the law”

• Grills Pence on Trump’s response to his own Covid diagnosis

• Says we need to end systemic racism but fails to explain how

Drink When Either

• Says “the United States of America”

• Precedes talking about their home state with “the great state of”

• Describes their running mate’s health as “excellent,” “fantastic,” or likewise

• Interrupts the other (advanced version, please drink responsibly)

• Directly insults the other (advanced version, please drink responsibly)

Chug for five seconds if:

• Pence looks visibly uncomfortable trying to defend a Trump position

• Harris waters down a position so much you’re unsure of what her platform is

Click here to download a printable PDF of the Washingtonian VP Debate Drinking Game.