Harris aims to target Trump while Pence looks to paint contrasts in vice presidential debate

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Juan Willams on VP debate: Pence, Harris have ‘possibility of stepping in’

Fox News political analyst, co-host of ‘The Five’ Juan Williams weighs in on the importance of the vice presidential debate on ‘America’s Newsroom.’

When Sen. Kamala Harris of California and Vice President Mike Pence face off Wednesday night in the one and only vice presidential debate, Harris will be concentrating her firepower on a person physically absent from the debate stage in Salt Lake City, Utah.

That person is President Trump.

“Sen. Harris will be on stage with Mike Pence but this debate is really about Trump’s failed leadership and the Trump-Pence record of failing American families over the past four years,” the Democratic vice presidential nominee’s communications director Liz Allen told reporters hours before the 9 p.m. ET showdown. “This debate about families trying to cope amid coronavirus.”

DONT EXPECT A REPEAT OF THE CHAOS IN CLEVELAND AT THE VICE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE

The debate – the first since the president contracted COVID-19 -- comes as Trump’s sidelined from the campaign, self-isolating in the White House after being hospitalized for three days at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center as he recovers from the coronavirus.

The pandemic has been the leading issue in the presidential race since the outbreak swept the nation in February and March. More than 210,000 people in the U.S. have died due to the virus, with the number of confirmed cases across the country topping 7.5 million. And with the president’s COVID diagnosis, the issue will dominate the debate.

Over the past seven months, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has repeatedly criticized the president -- charging Trump initially downplayed the severity of the outbreak -- and for botching the federal government’s response. Look for Harris, a former California attorney general and San Francisco district attorney, to prosecute the case.

“Mike Pence is head of the White House coronavirus task force. This is the record that they have to stand up and try to defend tonight. And Sen. Harris will make a forceful case that their failed leadership has in fact failed the American people,” Allen emphasized.

Democratic vice presidential candidate, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., speaks after visiting the This Is the Place Monument, Saturday, Oct. 3, 2020, in Salt Lake City. The monument commemorates the end of the westward journey of Mormon pioneers to Utah as well as early explorers of the West. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

And taking a page from Biden at last week’s first presidential debate, Biden campaign senior adviser Symone Sanders predicted that the senator “will speak directly to voters at home, not questioning Mike Pence.”

5 THINGS TO WATCH FOR IN THE HARRIS-PENCE DEBATE

Pence’s mission on Wednesday night: defend the administration’s much criticized record combating the coronavirus.

Pence chief of staff March Short told reporters that “the vice president can speak with great detail about actions this administration has taken from very early, in the very early days. … He will talk about what we did in the early days, decisions that we made to shut down travel from China that we believe saved millions of lives.”

The president -- who avoided wearing a mask in public until July and who continues to resist any forceful urging of Americans to wear masks -- once again mocked Biden for wearing a mask, saying at last week’s presidential debate, “I don’t wear a mask like him. Every time you see him, he’s got a mask. He could be speaking 200 feet away and he shows up with the biggest mask I’ve ever seen.”

And critics are blasting Trump for seemingly downplaying the virus Monday night after returning to the White House following his release from Walter Reed hospital, when he stressed in a video, “Don’t let it dominate you. Don’t be afraid of it.”

Biden on Monday again urged the president to “listen to the scientists."

Vice President Mike Pence speaks to members of the media at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., Monday, Oct. 5, 2020, as he leaves Washington for Utah ahead of the vice presidential debate schedule for Oct. 7. At left is Karen Pence. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

But Pence may try to turn the tables at the vice presidential debate. Pointing to comments by Harris last month saying she wouldn’t trust Trump when it comes to a coronavirus vaccine after charging he had severely politicized the quest for a vaccine, Short said the vice president would likely “highlight that we’re really following the science particularly when it comes to vaccines and its very troubling to see the Harris-Biden team undermine vaccinations.”

While the coronavirus will likely dominate the debate, the Trump campaign is looking to Pence to try and turn the spotlight to the economy.

“I think there’s a seminal question that I think needs to be asked as we turn the page as to who do you trust to rebuild the economy and I think we’re going to provide a sharp contrast between the pro-growth policies of cutting taxes and deregulation that you saw at the beginning of the Trump administration and throughout relative to the $4 trillion tax proposal and Green New Deal policies proposed by the Biden-Harris team,” Short highlighted.

THE VICE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE, OFTEN AN AFTERTHOUGHT, TAKES ON OUTSIZED IMPORTANCE

Expect the vice president to also showcase Trump’s repeated emphasis on “law and order” amid nationwide protests and unrest over police brutality against minorities and racial inequity. “I think we’re going to have a lot of conversation about who do you trust to make your streets remain safe or become safe,” Short said.

And he predicted that that Pence may also “highlight some of Sen. Harris’ discrepancies in her record where she’s proven to be hypocritical.” He charged that the senator’s “record is ridden with hypocrisy and hopefully we’ll have a chance to highlight that.”

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Pence may also continue the Trump campaign’s attempts to portray Harris as part of the extreme left of the Democratic Party.

“The contrast in ideology I think is pretty stark here,” Trump campaign senior adviser Jason Miller charged. “Sen. Harris is an actual card carrying member” of the left.

Last week’s first of three scheduled showdowns between Biden and the president was widely panned as more of a brawl than a debate. The face-off – described as a “debacle” and even a “s--t show" – was plagued by incessant interruptions and insults. Trump was the larger of the two culprits – according to a Fox News analysis, the president interrupted Biden and moderator Chris Wallace of "Fox News Sunday" a total of 145 times, with the former vice president interrupting Trump and Wallace 67 times.

While the Biden campaign doesn’t expect Pence to try and disrupt the debate, they’re charging that he’ll bend the truth.

“Mike Pence might not interrupt or shout like Trump did last week, but that doesn’t mean he’s being more truthful,” Sanders stressed. “We expect Vice President Pence to attack Sen. Harris and try to sow divisions within the Democratic Party, which is nothing more than deflections from his and Donald Trump’s failures at containing the coronavirus.”

“Just because Mike Pence can deliver a line doesn’t make it true. It’s easy to win a debate if you don’t care about telling the truth,” she argued.

Each campaign – in an expectations game long played by campaigns – is building up its opponent's debate credentials.

“We know that Vice President Pence is a formidable debater and we know that tonight is a challenge,” Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey – a top Biden campaign surrogate – told reporters.

And Sanders spotlighted that “we do expect Mike Pence to have a good debate. He has a history of being a successful debater. He was a talk show host. We are not coming in underestimating him.”

Short told reporters, “We know that Sen. Harris is a prosecutor. Even though her [Democratic presidential primary] campaign … flailed, the reality is she was a strong debater and we would expect that tonight.”

Those comments were seconded by former Republican Gov. of Wisconsin Scott Walker, who’s repeating his role from four years ago in helping Pence prepare for the vice presidential debate.

“Clearly Sen. Harris, having been a prosecutor, is going to be a worthy debater,” Walker emphasized.