SACRAMENTO, Calif — Vice President Mike Pence and Democratic challenger Kamala Harris traded barbs through plexiglass shields Wednesday night in a debate dominated by the coronavirus pandemic.
Harris said President Donald Trump's handling of the pandemic, which has killed more than 210,000 Americans, is “the greatest failure of any presidential administration."
Pence said Trump has constantly put the American people first. The president himself was back at the White House, recovering from his own battle with the virus.
The debate was far more civil than last week's when Trump constantly interrupted and was almost yelling at times in his faceoff with Joe Biden.
Andrea Terry, an assistant professor of rhetoric at Sacramento State University, said Pence began to ignore the moderator as the debate dragged on.
"There were moments where it was a bit reminiscent of the presidential debate that we had, simply because the moderator was not able to get him to stop speaking at times," Terry said.
Terry said female candidates, like Harris, face a paradox that, if they appear too feminine, they don't seem to be competent to viewers, but if they are too competent, they are not feminine enough. Terry said this is called a double bind.
Terry said that Harris seemed to fulfill this balancing act by using her facial expressions to express joy in answering some questions.
"Also being assertive about her expertise, her record and her knowledge, I think that she was able to actually find a way to tow that very, very thin line that she faced as a woman candidate, and especially as a woman candidate of color," Terry said.
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