210,000 americans, and joe biden hoping to win election as the oldest president ever, people are very focused on the health of the two men at the top of the ticket. Which puts mike pence and Kamala Harris in the spotlight. Were anything to happen to either mr trump or mr biden, one of these two would be the next president of the United States. Normally wed say theyll be face to face tonight but they wont. Theyll be separated by 12 feet of stage and two panels of plexiglass. Thats what a debate looks like in the midst of a pandemic when the white house has become a hot bed of covid 19. Amanda renteria is it with us and the republican strategist ron christie. 0ften, sometimes, the Vice President ial candidates have to be attack dogs and sometimes do no harm. It is more third do no harm category. Given that the president ial debate was more of a fight than talking about issues and policy, i think we will see Something Different tonight when both candidates feel they will be able to talk a
Preparing on both sides, it hasnt changed that much. Kamala harris was always planning on hitting coronavirus particularly hard, particularly that hes the head of the Coronavirus Task force. He has culpability. And he was always planning on hitting her on the radical left positions, whether or not thats true, and other things like law and order. I think well hear a lot of those issues come up, despite the fact that it feels like were in such a different world in washington. And were all living through coronavirus, right . We all have kids doing remote education, we have parents that we havent seen in months. And there are questions that senator harris could ask mike pence that we cant get answers to. Vice president pence, when did President Trump last test negative . Because thats relevant, because hes been traveling all over the country, including at the debate a week ago, and in minnesota, in new jersey, in ohio. When did he test negative last . Because thats how we Contact Trace . W
You get it out of the oven and actually until you start eating it. And even then you may realize, it could have stayed in the oven a little longer. The reality of it is for both campaigns, to davids point, the runway is a lot longer for joe to take off. I mean hes got the engines going. Hes hitting his stride. Trump, the runway is a lot shorter. So hes got to accelerate in a way in which every moment he gets to take advantage of the opportunity to get a voter to come to his corner. The problem is he has wasted 3 1 2 years doing that. So the idea that youre somehow going to find this mythical group of voters that has not made up their mind or that are there just waiting for you to ask them to vote for you is just problematic for the trump campaign. And the revelations around covid19, which is something he didnt want to talk about, hitting the white house the way it has. And then most especially, the president s own behavior flattens that cake and makes it hard to even get it out of the
The audience is required to wear a space mask and the candidates will be seated 12 feet apart. The audience is enthusiastic but theyve agreed to express that enthusiasm only twice, at the end of the debate, and now when i introduce the candidates. Please welcome california senator Kamala Harris and Vice President mike pence. [ cheering and applause ] thank you. Senator harris and Vice President pence, thank you for being here. Were meeting as President Trump and the first lady continue to undergo treatment in washington after testing positive for covid19. We send our thoughts and prayers to them for their rapid and complete recovery and for the recovery of everyone afflicted by the coronavirus. The two campaigns and the commission on president ial debates have agreed to the ground rules for tonight. Im here to enforce them on the behalf of the millions americans who are watching. One note, no one in either campaign or at the commission or anywhere else has been told in advance what top
Hold their Holding Areas and get micd up and ready to go. Lets get final update from correspondent jacqui heinrich. Good evening, bret, as you mention about the candidates are here, theyve done their walkthroughs in the next time we will see them will be on the stage in about 15 minutes. Senator harris has a couple of guests with her, a fulltime teacher who is also a veteran and also a state rep who works as a Community Organizer focusing on helping people affected by coronavirus. She is really going to focus on the virus tonight after President Trump but all that video saying he was cured by regeneron and experimental drug not available to most americans, the dnc slammed pants, saying he peddled the president flies and the Biden Campaign also resumed their negative ads in part saying they want to combat those lies. Vice president pence also had some guests with him. He brought the parents of a humanitarian aid worker who was killed by isis, to thank President Trump for killing albaghd