Pence-Harris debate skipped over important topics, moderator says
Though major topics like immigration were skipped over and both Pence and Harris dodged some questions, the debate was considered far more civil than the Trump-Biden debate.
By AARON REICHUS Vice President Mike Pence and Democratic vice presidential nominee and U.S. Senator Kamala Harris take part in the 2020 vice presidential debate moderated by Susan Page of USA Today, on the campus of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S., October 7, 2020.(photo credit: JUSTIN SULLIVAN/POOL VIA REUTERS)
Several important topics were left unmentioned during the debate last Tuesday between Vice President Mike Pence and Democratic vice presidential nominee, Senator Kamala Harris, the debate's moderator Susan Page told CBS News Friday.And among the topics Page missed was immigration.In total, nine topics were chosen for the debate, based on what voters want to hear and what could help sway votes to one side or the other, according to Page, who serves as USA Today's Washington bureau chief."The order of the debate got adjusted on the fly because we were talking about the economy, and climate change came up…which I planned to do later in the debate," she explained."Then we got toward the end of the debate, and it became clear we had to drop a topic, and immigration was, unfortunately, the topic that dropped off."The 90-minute debate was far from perfect, with some responses failing to address the questions asked, according to Page.Some dodged specific ones, with Pence accused of dodging questions on President Donald Trump's coronavirus response, while Harris avoided discussing the Supreme Court. However, "Neither candidate responded directly to my question, which was: have you talked to Joe Biden and Donald Trump about presidential succession," Page told CBS News.This failure to answer certain questions was seen by Page as "informative," she told CBS News.However, while the two failed to answer some questions, the debate was seen by Page as being far more productive and civil than the debate between Trump and Biden, which was lambasted by many for full of constant interruptions and a failure to discuss issues.In total, Pence notably spoke for longer than Harris, and frequently interrupted her, which Page noted to CBS News, though she claims the vice president's interruptions were only occasional.
"The one time that they were really talking over each other, I scolded them in a way my mother would have been appalled," Page recounted. "I held up my hands…as if I was a cop at an intersection just to get them to stop."There was one other moment of the debate, though, that captured the attention of nearly all viewers – the fly that landed on Pence's head in the tail-end of the debate.The fly stayed on the vice president's head for over a minute, and quickly became a viral sensation, one the Biden campaign was quick to capitalize on. Within minutes after the debate, Biden's campaign began selling fly swatters with the Biden-Harris logo and the phrase "Truth over flies" for $10. The swatters sold out overnight, and as of October 8, had sold 35,000 units, according to CBS News citing the Biden campaign.This followed an earlier appeal made by Biden's Twitter account showing a picture of Biden with a fly swatter stating "Pitch in $5 to help this campaign fly," alongside a URL for flywillvote.com, which itself linked to a Democratic National Committee-sponsored voter registration site.Even the Trump campaign got in on the fly craze, with Trump's 2020 communications director Tim Murtaugh telling CBS News in an emailed statement Thursday that "The fly gave more straight answers than Kamala Harris did."However, while the fly captured the attention of the nation, Page never even noticed it."You'll be surprised, I was pretty focused and I did not see the fly and I walked off the debate stage afterward and all anybody was talking about was the fly," she told CBS News."And I said, 'What fly?'"
