Harris’ previous debates set up her for sparring with Trump
The defining moment of the campaign against Donald J. Biden and Hillary: A story unfolded after the debate on June 14, 2015, at the Hilton in Miami
After the June debate, Biden’s performance was more significant than the mistakes of the former president. Trump wasn’t flawless, but he frequently highlighted false and misleading information. So this time, as NPR’s Domenico Montanaro pointed out, “If Harris has a solid debate, the focus could be on Trump in a way he doesn’t want.”
If you practiced five or 10 lines but only used one or two of them, it will depend on whether you get a call or not. So you have to be an improviser in addition to reading your lines like an actor,” he said.
When debating two people in a boxing ring, it is less likely that you will win with a knockout and more likely that you will win on points.
But Leopold added that while Harris’ tactic worked in that crowded primary debate format, she may have to take an alternate approach on Tuesday against Trump.
The first debate between Biden and Harris was going to be a defining moment of the campaign, said a political strategist who worked on Washington Gov. Jay Inslee’s campaign.
But it was short-lived. She did not clearly differentiate her position on busing today from that of Biden during the pre and after of Harris’ lines. The momentum she gained from the moment sputtered, and Harris dropped out of the primary before the voters started casting their ballots.
The voters’ reaction was very rapid. The campaign raised $2 million in the aftermath of Harris’ remarks. The campaign started printing T-shirts with a picture of Harris as a girl. There were lines at events later that week in Iowa. Her standing went up in the polls after the debate.
“You also worked with them to oppose busing. There was a little girl in California that was part of the second class in integrating her public schools. And she was bused to school every day. Harris said that the little girl was him.
In Miami, on the second night of the debates, Harris shared a stage with nine other contenders. She looked at Biden’s record of working with senators who supported segregation.
When Harris ran for Senate, her primary opponent, Rep. Linda Snchez, cried at the end of her closing remarks. Harris stared at her and at the audience.
Harris held her hand up while Mike Pence spoke over her during the debate. She said, “Mr. Vice President, I’m speaking.” If it was Pence’s turn to speak, Harris was expressive, raising eyebrows at his remarks — a look that went viral on social media, and was featured in Maya Rudolph’s impression of Harris on Saturday Night Live.
The Harris campaign used the moment to paint Cooley as out of touch, at a time when many Californians were financially struggling during the great recession. She ended up winning the race by 1 percentage point.
Do I Live in Los Angeles? The Dilemma of California’s Attorney General, Steve Cooley, during a California Senate Debate
Yes, I do. I’ve been in public service for 38 years. I definitely earned whatever pension rights I have, and I will certainly rely upon that to supplement the very low, incredibly low salary of the state attorney general,” Cooley said.
In her race for attorney general of California in 2010, Harris participated in a debate against Steve Cooley, then-district attorney of Los Angeles. Cooley was asked if he planned to rely on both his pension from being DA and the attorney general salary of about $150,000 if he were to win — what critics referred to as “double-dipping.”
Harris had a good grasp on debate preparation because of her time as a courtroom prosecutor, said Habig, who helped prepare Harris for debates when she ran for Senate.
The moment, Prozan said, put Harris’ opponents on notice and sent a message: “You’re not going to push me around.” I’m here. I’m running. I’m going to win,” Prozan said.
Harris was asked about San Francisco’s mayor, Willie Brown, whom Harris had once dated. It could have been a moment to answer the question in a personal way, but Harris pivoted. She used the question as an opportunity to call out her opponents’ negative attacks on each other. Hallinan had recently been calling out their other opponent, Bill Fazio, for getting caught in a massage parlor during a raid, for example.
Two candidates are entrenched. San Franciscans didn’t know her as well as they knew the others,” Prozan said. “And coming with the background she came from, she had to outdo both, and not just outdo them — she had to mop the floor with them.”
As a former vice president, President Biden understands the importance of the job. Yet because some of the most important work of a vice president takes place outside of public view, as a top confidential adviser to the president, it is difficult to differentiate the V.P.’s achievements from those of the president. The two function as a team, with the president as the final decision maker. Ms. Harris has had to contend with this. Some people think that she has been invisible as VP and that she needs to differentiate her policies from those of Biden in order to get voters to vote for her.
The vice presidential candidates are going to spar in a debate on October 1. The two hold similar roles in their respective campaigns: to appeal to voters in the “Blue Wall” states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin this fall.
Reproductive Rights and the Trump-Biden Bus Tour: An ABC News View of The Heritage Foundation and the Harris-Walz Campaign
On the other hand, Harris has repeatedly tied Trump’s platform to Project 2025, a 900-page set of policy proposals for a potential second term put forward by a conservative think tank, The Heritage Foundation. Trump has sought to distance himself from the plan, which includes further restrictions on abortion access among a number of moves that would increase executive power.
Trump is likely to link Harris to Biden’s handling of the economy and immigration, two areas where Republicans have heavily criticized the White House. He may also highlight aspects of her political record, including her past support for decriminalizing border crossings and banning fracking — two policies she backed during her 2020 presidential bid and has since pivoted on.
Trump has been ambiguous on this issue. He makes comments on abortion that do not match up with what he said in the past. He admitted that Florida’s six week ban was too restrictive and he would not support a state ballot measure that would protect access to abortions up until fetal viability.
Harris is expected to address reproductive rights on Tuesday night. The Harris-Walz campaign launched a bus tour with 50 stops around the country in order to discuss reproductive rights and the issue of abortion.
The candidates will not be able to question each other directly. Pre-written notes will not be allowed on the debate stage.
The campaign told ABC that if Trump dropped out of the debate, it would agree to the terms so that Harris wouldn’t be disadvantaged by the mics.
It’s a rule initially proposed by the Biden campaign ahead of the first debate and was largely seen as a potential shake-up to Trump’s typical debate style. The former president has a history of disrupting the setting to the point of his campaign downfall, so it ended up benefiting him. Instead, the technical change helped Trump appear more controlled.
The event will take place in Philadelphia for 90 minutes at 9 p.m. ABC News anchors David Muir and Linsey Davis are slated to moderate the debate, which will be broadcast by the network and streamed on ABC News Live, Disney+ and Hulu.
The First Two Months of the Clinton-Biden Era: Running for the Post-Trump Reionization Electoral Campaign
There has been many events since then. Biden dropped out of the race, Trump accepted the GOP nomination, Harris took over and the Democrats sewed up the nomination.
Two months ago, the playing field was different because of President Biden’s debate performance which caused a wave of concern over his ability to defeat Trump.
The vice president has worked with Mr. Biden to reduce inflation and create almost 16 million jobs. The most jobs lost by a president since record keeping began in 1939 were the result of Mr. Trump’s bungling of the H1N1 swine flu.
I know from my experience managing Vice President Al Gore’s presidential campaign in 2000 that running for president as vice president is an underappreciated challenge. A vice president is expected to never disagree with the president in public and must make the president look good without claiming personal credit for accomplishments. Yet when running for president, a vice president gets no credit from opponents for administration successes, but instead is blamed for supposed administration failures.
