'Private' Mike Pence and 'cop' Kamala Harris have already landed in Utah, a state with a Mormon majority, to prepare their first and only TV debate, Wednesday night at the University of Salt Lake City.
A more civilized and composed confrontation is expected than the quarrelsome one between Trump and Biden, and with stricter health and engagement rules.
But above all, the duel of the deputies appears much more important and decisive than usual, also because it could be the last key appointment before the vote if the other two challenges between the candidates for the White House are skipped due to the virus.
With Donald Trump cut off from the campaign for at least ten days due to Covid, his loyal deputy - who is already thinking about 2024 - becomes the potential successor in the event of health impediments and the highest-profile 'surrogate' in the campaign for re-election.
The stakes are equally high for the Californian senator who, if she wins, must prove herself capable of taking over from Elder Joe Biden at any time or of taking over his legacy in four years.
Her strong points include her oratory and inquisitorial skills refined over the years as a prosecutor, as she also demonstrated when she pressed Judge Brett Cavanaugh accused of sexual abuse and Justice Minister William Barr in Russiagate in the Senate.
Harris, who is training in mock debates where former mayor and former presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg takes over for Pence, arrived in Salt Lake City on Friday and paid tribute to the historic Mormon Pioneer Monument, remembering which are also part of the nation's trademark, being immigrants fleeing persecution and fighting for their religious freedom.
For his 'mock debates' Pence instead made Pam Bondi, also a former attorney general (in Florida) and close ally of the president, wear the shoes of his rival.
Pence arrived in Utah on Monday, the first of a four-day campaign that will also take him to Arizona and his state of Indiana.
Some White House advisors had urged him not to leave the capital to be ready to assume interim powers in case Trump worsens and not to expose himself to the risk of contagion: if both were knocked out by the virus, the chain of command would pass to the speaker of the House, the dem Nancy Pelosi.
But Pence has succumbed to pressure from the campaign, which launched the desperate 'Operation Maga' at a time when Republicans risk losing not only the White House but also the Senate and Supreme Court confirmation of conservative judge Amy Coney Barrett. questioned by the quarantine of six senators, three of them positive.
Trump hoped the nation would tighten around him as he battled the virus but early polls show no rebounds of sympathy and indeed that most Americans think he hasn't taken the pandemic seriously.
Now he also lacks the oxygen of the rallies, while his opponent can continue to personally beat the states in the balance.
As he did today in Miami, Florida with the Latinos from Little Havana and Little Haiti, after yet another negative test at Covid.
As for contagion risks in his second October 15 debate with Trump, Joe will do "what the experts say"