A ‘happy warrior’ VP debate leaves questions unanswered for the top of the tickets

An vital notice about this conflict: This debate coated much more substance and was much more critical in tone than the controversy we’ve seen that includes the tops of the tickets. About the one main points that weren’t touched on that I might have favored to see extra about was the broader menace China poses to the Pacific area typically and the precise concern of Taiwan.

However kudos to the CBS Information staff for a strong concern matrix; for essentially the most half, it coated lots of floor that voters wish to speak about. And in protection of CBS Information, neither China nor Ukraine is seen as a high concern by voters, even when each could possibly be among the many most consequential challenges for the following president of the US.

However there’s one thing else nagging at me with this debate. It’s not laborious to conclude that former President Donald Trump himself makes it almost unattainable to have the kind of debate Vance and Walz participated in Tuesday evening. And that’s too dangerous. We might actually use a presidential-level debate that’s just like what we witnessed Tuesday evening.

However Trump has by no means participated in a debate that didn’t devolve into one thing extra pugilistic and even immature and juvenile at instances. (Want I point out hand sizes?) I am curious whether or not the tone and tenor of this debate finally ends up hurting Trump just because it reminds voters what politics could possibly be when Trump isn’t onstage.

However the true query about this debate within the quick time period is whether or not it’s going to have any impression on this present marketing campaign.

Historical past says this debate can have little or no impression. The inform from every marketing campaign about how vital this debate was will come by the weekend: What number of debate moments will both marketing campaign be making an attempt to amplify past the following 24 hours? My guess is nothing or subsequent to nothing, however we are going to study collectively! 

Going into this debate, I assumed that each vice presidential nominees could be extra centered on the tops of the tickets. And for essentially the most half, the 2 performed to kind. In nearly each reply, Walz went after Trump and often appeared for methods to reward Vance in a method that made him look anti-Trump. Vance equally would attempt to throw shade at Walz by praising the governor’s empathy and concern about a difficulty whereas contrasting it to Vice President Kamala Harris.

However what was a bit shocking to me was that Walz turned out to be extra aggressive in opposition to Trump than Vance was in opposition to Harris.

Finally, the No. 1 job of the VP candidate in these debates is to make the case in opposition to the highest of the ticket. So it’s fairly fascinating to me that the technique Vance selected to have interaction in was one which appeared designed to enhance his personal private rankings.

Maybe if he improves his private rankings, it might assist all the ticket, however I’m skeptical that helps a lot in any respect. Dan Quayle was fairly unpopular in 1988, particularly after his poor debate efficiency, and but his unpopularity had no impression on the highest of the ticket. In truth, Lloyd Bentsen, the Democratic working mate that yr, might have ended the marketing campaign as essentially the most personally well-liked of the 4 candidates on the tickets. And but, that didn’t assist the highest of the Democratic ticket in any respect.

Vance might have made lots of progress in fixing his picture for a future run for president — say, in 2028. However I’m undecided how a lot this may assist Trump. And I’m nonetheless stunned at how little Vance tried to remind viewers that Harris was nonetheless a part of the Biden administration.

He truly appeared to disregard Biden by identify, as an alternative invoking solely Harris on a lot of events. It is an fascinating choice given the way it appears as if the Trump marketing campaign staff desperately desires to re-attach Biden’s unpopular model to Harris. I’m undecided Vance was as aggressive on this entrance as one might need anticipated if his position was to easily be “the assault canine.”

As for Walz, his efficiency was the very definition of uneven. His nervousness got here by fairly a bit, particularly firstly. Clearly, he was telling the reality when he reportedly instructed Harris in the course of the VP vetting course of that debating wasn’t a powerful go well with for him. However Walz was sturdy at instances when he was prosecuting a case in opposition to Trump, significantly on Jan. 6 and abortion. He was much less good at defending Biden-Harris actions basically.

His worst second is sort of apparent at this level: His incapability to confess he exaggerated when he was in China in and across the Tiananmen Sq. was painful to look at. He ultimately bought there, however he got here throughout like a child making an attempt to rationalize why he was dishonest on a check by taking a look at notice playing cards.

This was a second that was completely avoidable by the Harris-Walz marketing campaign if it had merely achieved one factor: let Walz sit down and deal with an array of accountability interviews, like Sunday exhibits. However the Harris-Walz operation is so satisfied that powerful media interviews might develop into distractions from protecting a concentrate on Trump that it’s sticking with this type of “forestall protection.”

Now, forestall defenses do work greater than they don’t in stopping losses in soccer video games. However what additionally they do is assure that the competition can be nearer by the tip. Sitting down for extra interviews could appear dangerous, but when the Harris marketing campaign wish to see whether or not it might probably win by greater than a proportion level in a single battleground state, maybe these interviews may also serve to reassure the gettable swing voters that this ticket is as much as the job.

The actual unknown fallout from this debate is whether or not this would be the final one in all this presidential cycle.

Trump continues to point he thinks it’s too late for another debate. However after tonight, as a viewer, I do know I’d prefer to see extra follow-up on what I heard from the potential VPs. Each have much more questions I wish to see them reply onstage collectively. I believe there are fairly a number of undecided voters or semi-decided voters who would additionally like another crack at assessing the mettle of the 2 nominees.

I believe Trump and his staff are satisfied Harris wants one other debate greater than Trump does. And the Trump staff isn’t in denial about how poorly the primary match-up went for Trump. Whereas I’m undecided one other debate could be useful to Trump, he nonetheless wants an enormous stage to make a closing argument — and the one stage large enough is a debate.

If Tuesday evening was the final phrase, the excellent news is each VP wannabes left pretty constructive impressions on voters, maybe extra constructive than any of us so-called consultants would have ever predicted.