Icon: enlarge
Candidates between Plexiglas: Harris and Pence during their TV debate
Photo: JIM LO SCALZO / EPA-EFE / Shutterstock
TV debates by US Vice-Presidential candidates can usually be forgotten even faster than those of their bosses.
At best, sound bites and anecdotes remain.
The TV viewers immediately noticed that it was different this time.
Mike Pence, the Republican incumbent, and Senator Kamala Harris, the Democratic runner-up, sat far apart, separated by large, but apparently largely useless, plexiglass panels.
The audience in the hall wore masks, the seat tickets - as one learned along the way - contained the information that everyone was responsible for health consequences.
The corona crisis, which has arrived in the middle of the White House since last week, now also dominated this forum.
Donald Trump alone took care of that.
Despite his illness, he had left the hospital prematurely and posted a bizarre video a few hours before the debate in which he praised his coronavirus infection as a "gift from God".
Trump's vice pence had no chance.
How was Kamala Harris doing?
Icon: enlarge
Confident and safe: Kamala Harris
Photo: LUCY NICHOLSON / REUTERS
The ex-California attorney general took the chance from the start.
She accused Trump and his team of "the worst failure of a government in the history of this country" in the corona crisis.
"You knew what was going on and they didn't tell you," she said into the camera, addressed to the audience in front of the TV screens.
"They knew and they covered it up."
Pence, on the other hand, had little to say.
One of her strongest moments was a potential corona vaccine: if the doctors recommend it, she will of course get vaccinated.
"But if Donald Trump advises us to take that, I won't take it."
Cool and with a smug smile, she did not fail to address Trump's alleged $ 400 million debt, his enormous budget deficit, his failed foreign and trade policy and his lack of distance from right-wing extremists and neo-Nazis.
Above all, Kamala Harris did what her main task was: she made a 90-minute plea for "Joe", as she consistently called Biden, and fired sharp attacks against Trump and Pence, his deputies in the White House and on stage.
At the same time, the 55-year-old proved that she would be an accomplished president herself, in the event of Biden becoming incapable of office - or when the next election decision was made in 2024.
At the same time she didn't let Pence - who interrupted her several times - keep her mouth shut: "Mr. Vice President, I'm talking."
Many women, who are all too familiar with such situations from their private and professional life, must have sympathized.
How was Mike Pence doing?
Icon: enlarge
Man on a difficult mission: Mike Pence
Photo: LUCY NICHOLSON / REUTERS
The vice president had little to counter the ongoing attacks by Kamala Harris.
He did what he has basically been doing for four years: with a sad look and a lot of pathos in his voice, he defended his boss's antics.
Pence called Trump's corona policy an "unprecedented achievement".
He claimed that the president had "saved hundreds of thousands of lives," just by his early decision to ban entry from China.
Meanwhile, Pence constantly evaded questions from the moderator about Trump's own illness with Covid-19 and the spread of the virus in the White House.
After all, the Vice President himself managed to launch attacks against Kamala Harris and Joe Biden a few times.
His main goal: He tried to send exactly the campaign messages that Trump did not include in the last debate against Joe Biden, because at that time he almost only fired incoherent slogans.
Pence painted the Democrats as a threat to America's economy and security.
Under a government of Biden and Harris, taxes would increase and millions of jobs would be destroyed, Pence said.
In particular the climate policy of the Democrats, the "Green New Deal", is a great danger.
"America is threatened with a depression," warned Pence.
Remarkable: unlike his boss Trump, Pence tried to appear serious, respectful and civil as possible.
He kept interrupting Harris.
But at the same time he gave her several friendly nods and congratulated her on her historic role as the first black candidate for the vice presidency.
Apparently, at least the Vice President understood that pure rumble à la Trump does not go down well with all voters.
What were the strangest moments?
Icon: enlarge
The best part of the debate: Mike Pence's fly
Photo: ERIC BARADAT / AFP
Some burning questions didn't come from USA Today presenter Susan Page, who often seemed helpless to Pence's word bubble haze.
Rather, they faced anyone who watched: What was wrong with Pence's eye?
And was that a fly that stuck to his spray-dried hair?
Indeed, the Vice President's left eye was visibly bloodshot during the debate.
Which prompted not only commentators and epidemiologists to speculate immediately.
Many pointed out on Twitter that conjunctivitis was a symptom of Covid 19 disease.
According to information from ABC News, at least 34 people from the Trump area have been infected with the corona virus.
Pence tested negative again before the debate, according to his team.
The insistent fly amused even Biden: "flywillvote.com", he tweeted - which led to the Democrats' election website "I will vote".
"The fly flew away because it was boring," said MSNBC presenter Nicole Wallace.
"I only found out about this famous fly afterwards," said Harris' ex-primary rival Pete Buttigieg, almost disappointed, on the cable channel MSNBC.
That such distractions were such a big issue in the first place shows how absurd this election campaign has become.
Who won?
Overall, Kamala Harris cut a better figure than Pence.
But it is not to be expected that this debate will change much in the current mood among the electorate.
It rather underlines the general trend: In the polls, the Democrats are currently clearly ahead, Trump and his Republicans are currently unable to turn the mood in their favor.
Pence wasn't much of a help either.
At best, he secured the party's loyal electoral base, no more and no less.
Much will now depend on whether Trump can still make up ground in the remaining two TV debates against his challenger Biden.
The presidential candidates are due to meet again on October 15 and 22.
Provided that Trump has fully recovered by then.
And of course, as always, further surprises cannot be ruled out in this election campaign.
We live in the age of Trump, after all.
Yet.
Icon: The mirror