President ial debates will open the doors and turn on the light and welcome viewers to the debate. A little after 9 00, the debate will begin. It begins a few minutes after 9 00 so the networks can introduce coverage. Cspans up at 10 30 and will get your calls and reaction. That is what is coming up tonight. Joining us is greta. What do you have . Greta lets start with a closer view. This is from the cspan twitter feed from yesterday set up at the university of utah. You can follow our coverage on twitter. Lee from the New York Times reported senator harris was prepping for tonight with hundreds of index cards and a mac a mock debate with pete pence andplaying mike an effort to lower expectations. The wall street journal reports that harris tried to lower expectations coming describing pence as a formidable bader. She says debate her. She says she will make this about leadership during the pandemic. That is what democrats plan to do. They plan to make it about all pandemic, all the time. Reports thattimes mr. Pence went to Salt Lake City earlier this week with his chief of staff and scott walker, who harris in debate preps. With likes to prepare people he feels comfortable with. Mr. Pence is bringing the lack Business Owner whose shop was destroyed during protests tonight. He will also have the family of isis in anurdered by attempt to draw focus on terrorism and draw contrasts with biden. Marine. Ng us is also she is on the campus at the university of utah. Given what we just heard about the democrat making this the democrats making this all pandemic, is that what you are hearing . I was just outside the security perimeter in the official protest area where up can stand to show to show support. Truck drove by im going to interrupt you. Kamala harris is arriving at the debate hall. Go ahead. In Vice President ial debates the focus is on the top of the ticket and the understudies are arguing for the president ial candidate. In this case because the Vice President has played such a key role in the handling of the coronavirus, we are likely to see harris talk about his role. Givenng that same line joe bidens age and president trumps health, is there more attention being paid to this . I think so. For that and other reasons. Four years ago in mike pence defense debate with tim kaine, it had the biggest drop in viewership between the present shall president ial debate and Vice President ial debate that one strategist called it mayonnaise versus miracle whip. There is a bigger contrast andeen the two candidates the running mates are in their 70s. Pandemic, ita would still increase chances that the number two would become president at some point. Wearing a mask. It is required. I have a green wristband that indicates i tested negative yesterday. With my regular mask i was told i needed to where this surgical this surgical mask which i guess is better than the mask i had. Aboutre being very strict keeping on the mask. I was in the media tent a minute ago sipping water and i forgot to put my mask up after a drink of water and someone came up and told me to put it back on. You have been covering politics for a long while. How does this feel different . Here thaneople are four years ago for the Vice President ial debate. To have anle odd event of such magnitude and not as many people as you would expect showing up. There will be some of the audience, correct . Yes. It is a fairly small hall and there are not many beats on the lowest level. Most audience will be on the upper level. But most of the media will be outside in a tent, watching the debate. The format is 90 minutes. Each topic will be discussed for 10 minutes. Two minute answers and six minute discussions. Who came up with the format . Maureen the Debate Commission and then the moderator, susan page got to decide what the topics would be. Because we doal not know what the topics will be. Maureen we dont. Before the president ial debate, they announced topics in advance. But only susan page knows. I do not know what she will ask. Over the last 40 years, how important are these Vice President ial debates . Maureen you get different opinions. Debates in general, how much they matter. Said they may matter at the margins but in a close race, the one or two points, it can make a difference if the final score of a basketball game comes down to two point, the two point shot makes the difference. That is how he described it to me about how it can matter in a close election. Worked with susan page. She joined usa today in 1995. The Washington Bureau chief. A washington correspondent for quite a while. She just published a book last year, a biography of barbara bush. She has a book coming out next year, a biography of nancy pelosi. What can you tell us about her . Maureen she is a fantastic colleague. She could not be nicer. A wellknown figure in washington. She does not walk into a room with an ego. We are all very excited and proud to have her moderating this because she is the first print journalist to moderate. Has she been in a hotel room in salt lake . Maureen she has been holed up somewhere. The new staff, there is a wall can say weso no one are influencing things. So i am not privy to how she has been preparing. Said one thing she is preparing for after the last weeks debate is a strategy for if the candidates candidates interrupt each other as much as they did last week. She is working on ways to combat that. Lets check in with greta. Of the debateup stage with plexiglas that was erected overnight. Jim acosta reports on the timeline of when it was put into place, this is yesterday. The pence team believes the plexiglas is not necessary. Pence and his team after a allow plexiglas drawn out back and forth. The Vice President dropped his objection to the barricade on his side of the stage after viewing the set up during a walkthrough. And then this evening, from the washington post, robert redfields letter vouching for the vps health for the debate raises concerns among experts after trump at least nine white house employees tested positive. Earlierck to the stage, throughk when we walked ae behindthescenes, here is view of tonights venue from his perspective of. Welcome. We are aware pence and harris will debate. A tent rehearsal is going on. A chance toroducers make changes needed before the show. There will be at least eight cameras during the debate. This will give you an idea of their view. Only a few people will be allowed on the floor. All of the networks can purchase platforms to do coverage. Attending will be up in the balcony with a great view. In the media Filing Center. Journalists for 180 to come in and do podcasts and provide social media updates. They will have a live feed of the debate. Maureen, we saw some preparations going on. How big is the Media Presence . Maureen not nearly as big as normal. We are spread out. I came from the media hall. It did not seem like we were close to the debate starting because there were not many people. That is because of social distancing. So it feels different. What do we know about preparations for the debate tonight from mike pence and Kamala Harris . Maureen it has been reported the former governor of wisconsin who was a standin for tim kaine four years ago played a similar role this time. Pence has a Comfort Level with walker. There are others involved in the debate prep, including his older daughter. She was active in the campaign four years ago. That time she helped her dad prepare for questions on abortion likely to come up and how to address those from a womans perspective. She has been devolved in his debate prep. For senator harris, it is hasrted that Pete Buttigieg been portraying pence in her because he knows pence. They had some interaction when pence was the governor of indiana. And Pete Buttigieg has the debate experience. We are waiting for Vice President pences arrival at Kingsbury Hall. Maureen, did harris and pence both fly in today . Have they been on site to see the stage . Maureen they came in earlier this week to do their walkthroughs. Westwill be staying in the after the debate tonight. I think pence will be in arizona and nevada. Biden and harris will be in herona as well and i think husband will be campaigning in colorado. Timewill be spending more out west. We are seeing vehicles arrived in the motorcade. How far from that are you . Maureen i am not sure where the motorcade is arriving. That the location for before i came into the hall. The hall is on the campus of the university. Normalnot have University Activity going on. Mascot walking in an uncle sam type costume. So that is fun. There are student volunteers who have been helping but students who have been taking classes virtually and in person at this time my understanding is classes are all virtual. Outside an hour ago, some sophomores were sitting on foldout chairs outside the secondstory windows of the house they rent. They had their laptops open and had just finished an online class. They were up to see what they could see from across the street. Said he would feel odd being that close and not being able to watch it. The university had a lottery for some students inside the hall but most of them are not on campus now. Week, we spoke with todd graham from the Southern Illinois university, which has one of the best competitive debate programs in the country. Here is what he had to say about debate preparation. Research. Heard an expression early on attorneys time is spent reading and writing. Its not the dramatic stuff you see on tv like in the courtroom. Debaters time is spent research and writing briefs. Confused. Eople get they think the better speaker wins. That bs willsnomer win debate. The team that wins is the one that out puzzles everyone. At the university i use to look at the pairings before around and it was one of my favorite things to see berkeley or rice debating Southern Illinois, we out hustled everyone. We worked harder than everyone at research and preparation. We had not only our arguments but the opponents arguments. Research. That apply to president ial and Vice President ial debates . Yes. Some things are predictable. Should beamala harris able to predict what pence says about policies. She should know the policies. She should also know what trump said about everything. Canla harris, mike pence research what she did in the senate and as attorney general. Noticing some of her weaker spots in previous debates. Maybe some obscure case she cannot remember at the top of her head. So research what happened. Research your opponent in these debates. What about authenticity . Its one of the reasons trump was elected. Real or not, it was perceived that his authenticity was stronger than that of hillary clinton. Notes,the interesting similarity is an important likability trait. If you think you are similar to someone, you like them more, even if it is just perceived similarity. Even if you dont have anything in common, if you think you do, you like them more. Characteristicng of why trump the hillary clinton. Beat hillary clinton. People think there are similarities. And pence do not have the same personality. So we will be looking for authenticity. DebateVice President ial i will be looking for harris to tie pence to trump. And every answer she should be trying to find a link between the question and can you defend your president. And on the others, i should be looking for mike pence doing his best to defend while saying, you do not have the experience, i. Ave been in this job and even as californias attorney general, you couldve done a better job. The person atg to the top of the ticket and attack them. Weakness is he has to defend things that are indefensible. A statement trump said, etc. Harris can Research Anything in the last four years and say, how about when trump did not support our troops. His weakness is defending trump. Is something you have to watch out for is a woman. If you come across as too aggressive, there is a stereotype. She has a fine line to walk between assertiveness and aggressiveness. That is what she has to be careful about. Do you coach men and women differently . Absolutely. And it is a shame. I want these stereotypes to go away. But i have had people have a perfect debate and judges say, i thought you were in being so i did not vote for you. They would not have said that to a man. You have to coach differently. It is a shame. But once you have the reputation by the time the same female is a jr. Senior we do not have to talk about it anymore. But her first few years, yes. A lot of midwesterners do not watch the primaries and this is the first time of them seeing her. This will be the First Impression of her for many. Maureen, i do not know if you could hear todd talk about debating styles but what are the expectations tonight . When joe biden announced harris as his writing might running mate, there were High Expectations for her. A lot of comments from people expecting harris to easily beat pence. She has a reputation as a tough debater. She criticized the Vice President on busing. She is known for tough questioning on capitol hill like she has made people Brett Kavanaugh and Jeff Sessions squirm under her questioning. So there is a lot of expectation she could easily beat pence and the Trump Campaign has been trying to tamp down those expectations. Said, something tricky for her is she has to be aggressive but come across as likable. Research shows that people will vote for a male candidate if they think he is qualified, even if they do not like him. But they will not necessarily do the same for a female candidate. She still has to meet a threshold of likability before voters will support her. That is something tricky for her. , the difficulty of the male female dynamics him is he has to come across as not mans explaining mansplaining to her. There are gender dynamics on both sides tonight. Utilizing the cspan library, we went back and picked out some moments of pence and harris and the debate style. Have balanced budgets and cut property taxes and performed government services. We brought the energy and efficiency. I have a plan to continue to do that. Other than the oath i made to my wife 27 years ago, i take no greater oath than in the service of the country. If i am elected the governor of indiana, i will bring the same vigor to uphold the constitution. People want to see our nation standing tall and the supporting our military, rebuilding them, committing the respect of the world. They want to see the American Economy off to the races. They want to see an american comeback and trumps career has been about building. Going through hardship and forward. Way to fight wen trump becomes president , will have a stronger america. When you hear him say he wants to make America Great again, when we do that, i believe the American People will be standing tall. Harris i have traveled up and down a few times and have never met somebody who was concerned about the people they are concerned about when they wake up at 3 00 in the morning. Meet, when they wake up, it is because they concerned about whether their children are getting the education they deserve. Students worried if they could pay off their loans. People wake up wondering if they will have a roof over their head and if taxpayers are getting a return on their investment. They wake up worrying about Climate Change and future generations and they want a leader who knows how to get things done. That is the work i have done throughout this campaign, listening to the students. When you put one dollar of investment in cal state university, you get a return on that investment of 23. It makes sense to invest in the student. 75 of you are graduating with student loan debt. The average tuition on an annual basis is 30,000 to 40,000 a year. Students, i see you and hear you and you deserve to have representatives who prioritize what shes. You prioritize your issues. You can watch all of the debates on cspan. Org. , you have been covering pence for quite a while. What is his debate style . Maureen he spent years honing his communication field as a radio talk show host in indiana. He is very smooth. With different ideologies had no trouble being a guest on his radio talk show because they knew he would treat them with respect. Him,emocrats do criticize they say he is good at pivoting if he does not want to answer a question. So one thing they hope harris if he iss pin him down not answering a question. Greta . Schapiro tweeted from the Kamala Harris report this evening, utah held a ticket lottery for student with 60 lucky winners allocated a seat. A live we having audience of lucky students during a pandemic . This is madness. And take a look at the crowd outside the debate hall. Gathered for the debate in utah. Cnn wrote, the commission on president ial debates has promised to expel anyone from the hall in utah who does not follow the mask wearing mandate. That mandate was disregarded by members of trumps family at the first debate. Ismaureen, it sounds like it getting a little loud at Kingsbury Hall. What is going on . Maureen people have been coming on for a while and im looking at the bethany where most at the balcony where most spectators will be. People are standing up and talking to each other. The excitement is starting to build in the hall. Debate. Is a 90 minute chosen by, the topics susan page, we do not know what they are. Each will be discussed for 10 minutes. Twominute answers. Six minute discussions after that. Maureen, where will you be . Maureen not in this hall. , will be in a tent outside watching it on tv and furiously typing. Usually there is a spin room afterwards. Will there be that . Maureen if there is, no one has made me aware of it. More timeo back one before going live to salt lake to greta. Lets show viewers ground that needs to be made by the president. Pole, trump loses support after the debate and covid diagnosis. White College Women is one of the groups. Joseph, biden up 41 in wisconsin, unchanged from the earlier pole. Biden, plus six in nevada. Status quo is bad for trump. Poles show ane uptick for biden ands and trump stock at 42 . There is a reason gop strategists are worried about a landslide. Oldertes americans 65 and are a republican friendly block trump cannot lose. And there is in exodus among those voters from the president to the Vice President. Points. D by 27 minutes, the commission on president ial debates will welcome the audience and television viewers. We will cover it live. And then the 90 minute debate starts at a little after 9 00. After that, your reaction. That is what is coming up tonight on cspan. We recommend cspan. Org to stream the debate coverage live and link to each question and answer and search the video by topic or keyword to find the moment you are looking for. All of the archival debate video is available at the Video Library and we recommend you follow cspan on social media. Maureen, what is your social media handle . mcroppe. Maureen, we appreciate your time this evening from Salt Lake City. Now we go to Kingsbury Hall on the campus of the university of utah. Ladies and gentlemen, could i ask you to take your seats, please . Welcome to the 2020 Vice President ial debate here at the university of utah. I am the executive director for the commission on president ial debates and we are delighted you are here. Thanks owed it a lot of people for making tonight possible. We will also cover some housekeeping roles for the debate, which start with please make sure your cell phones are turned off on all functions. You cannot make any noise. Please open your programs and look at some of the many people that we owe a huge debt of gratitude for this evening. I would like to start with pentagram, responsible for the new look of the commissions name and color. To krollso grateful and warring which has supported our work for years and to federal commissions that have come on board this year. As we speak, there is a washington Filing Center being hosted at the National Press club for members of the press who could not come here as they normally would to cover the debate. We are exceedingly grateful to them for providing this additional place for people to cover the debate. Thewe a special thanks to secret service, fbi, department of homeland security, and Clemson University media forensics hub. I will introduce the cochairs of the commission, frank and ken, for their comments. Good evening and welcome to beautiful Salt Lake City. I am from nevada and not far from home. It is great to be here. And debateuniversity society that cosponsor this. As you walk through the campus you have an opportunity to see the beautiful job they have done and with all of the problems with the spacing. Over 60 regular Staff Members commissioned to put the debates on and we have to go from cleveland to southlake to miami and then nashville. Thanks to United Airlines who was gratuitously flying our staff back and forth. We owe them a real debt of gratitude. Knowing do we owe more than the cleveland clinics. Were of you in cleveland there for the debate cosponsored. They have been our advisor on medical issues, which is so important as we live through this coronavirus. We want to thank them again for their tremendous work. ,elieve it or not anheuserbusch for 28 years has provided for the staff, the reporters something to eat so they do not have to go back and forth and they have been with us for 28 years and we are so happy. Now i have to be a scold. Inre are millions of people their homes watching what happens tonight or they will be at their computers or on their listening to these individuals state their positions on issues that are important to americans. So we would ask you to not interfere with that by applauding, cheering, or getting involved. You are fortunate to be in this place in History Today and you say you were at the debate. It is remarkable. Very important. So please do not get involved. Let them speak in peace. We were told when you entered that you had to be wearing a mask. The rules are will keep it on. If you take it off, someone will approach you and ask you to please put the mask on. If you do not put it back on, you will be advised that your ticket is canceled. The back of the ticket that got you in, you pledged to follow all protocols from the Health Department and you will be escorted by Law Enforcement from the premises. It will be embarrassing to you and interfere with what is going on appear so we beg you, please do not take your mask off. As soon as i am off the stage, mine is going back on. This is for everyone. Button, you will hear a whole lot of noise because all of these networks come of the boxes are behind you and they will all go on air to cover the debate. You will hear them go on air and you will hear the moderators talking. Do not get upset. It will calm down. We hope you enjoy and learn. I think this will be a tremendous evening. We are missing one of our cochairs, dorothy, former head of the league of women voters. She is not with us but she is in our thoughts and we say hello. Kenme introduce my cochair,. I join frank, janet, and fellow Board Members in welcoming you to the 10th Vice President ial debate sponsored and organized by the commission on president ial debates. As the newest cochair of the commission, i am proud to work frank,. Frank, dot, janet, and a talented staff and crew who deal with moving parts ranging from prep and production to cybersecurity and set design, lighting, and logistics. Over the years, they have created an institution that has made debates an important part of our democratic process. A view shared by the american electorate. Also, the advent of the commission sponsored debate watch allows the watch committee in all 50 states and puerto rico to exchange views on issues raised in debates with those who agree and those who disagree. To listen respectfully to each others opinions. Debate watch 2020 will reach more than one million utah,ipants and here in the utah Debate Commission is carrying out a broad Civic Education program around the conducting an Essay Competition for high school ninents and encouraging colleges and universities in the states to organize virtual debate watches. Significant as debates have become, they can be even more consequential overseas. The commission has helped organized 450 debates in 45 nations. Importantly, in postconflict countries and new and emerging democracies. This effort has led to the creation of debates international, a local support network of similar debate organizers from nearly 40 countries. Organizedommission debates in tunisia last year, we were joined by members from mexico and jamaica to share their experiences and expertise. I wanted to recognize their theest standing supporter, julie and peter bloom cooler foundation which has given trust to the nonpartisan mission of the commission for the past 32 years. Grateful for their extraordinary contribution to the 2020 debates. It is my distinct honor to introduce dr. Ruth watkins, the president of the university of utah. Thank you very much. Dr. Watkins good evening. It is my great pleasure to welcome you to the flagship university. Sincere thanks to the president ial debate for selecting us to host the only Vice President ial debate. This is the first time utah has been the site of an Election Debate and we are thrilled so many will get to know our state and university. Ist lake city, the capital, a thriving hub of industry and innovation. Spectacular recreation, a strong economy, and we are known for collaborative spirit. This vitality is why the university is on the rise, now recognized as one of americas leading research universities, a member of the association of american universities. Our campus is home to outstanding programs including utah health. University hospital has been recognized as a top 10 facility for excellence in patient care and the Cancer Institute is a comprehensive cancer center, the highest federal ranking. Providing value, high quality education at an affordable cost is a tenet of our university. Our faculty and staff achieve national wreck Mission Staff achieve national recognition. Named asor was just fellow. We are united in purpose and strive to provide students with an exceptional experience that will equip them for a vibrant future. Students are at the center of all we do. Let me introduce you to our student body leaders. These individuals exemplify smart, creative students who will lead us into the future. I asked michelle one thing she wanted the world to know about the university and she said that this is a place for everyone to come and accomplish extraordinary things. This is an institution for anyone to not only learn and research, but to do it in an exemplary manner. There is endless opportunity here. And a message of hope for students listening tonight. If there is anything i hope for that we will it is feel empowered to make our voices heard and our presence known and the hope that we recognize the power and potential we have to act, to make a significant difference in our communities. But it all starts with what we do today, especially as we tune in tonight. We are the future but also the present, and present we will be. This election might be the first involvement for many students. We have emphasized how hard how important it is to be involved. Tos message from a student students listening around the world. I want students worldwide to know partaking in elections is indispensable. We are all citizens of humankind and our chief role is to tailor the world to be more ethical than the one we grew up in. Vote our responsibility to for just outcomes. It is our responsibility to be commonly decent. From all of us, our best wishes to mike pence and Kamala Harris this evening as my deepest appreciation to all who helped plan and prepare for tonight from the campus, the Debate Commission and the commission on president ial debate. Thank you and warmest welcome to the university of utah. [applause] [applause] please welcome the first print journalists to be the solo moderator, susan page from usa today. [applause] susan welcome. Congratulations, you have scored the most exclusive tickets. Hamilton has nothing on the president ial debate. I want to offer a special welcome to Vice President pences family and senator, harrises family on this side and to my bosses seated appear. My bosses from usa today and kennett. We are glad you are here. But this debate is not about you or me. It is about the millions of americans who will be watching it. That is why i am going to ask you for your help. I am asking you for your silent. During the debate, please do not er, boo, his, or laugh hiss, or laugh. It is distracting. There will be two times when you can applaud. When i announce the candidates on the stage, you can applaud. And then again at the end of the debate. But if you could restrain your enthusiasm between those two times, i would appreciate it. And if you could send me some good karma, that would be appreciated. But quietly. Im going to sit down and get settled and turn my back to you, but not in a rude way. And i will see you on the others. Thank you again i will see you on the others. Thank you on the other side. Thank you again for being here. [applause]
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