On Wednesday Vice President Mike Pence will face Democrat vice presidential nominee Senator Kamala Harris, D-CA, in a debate in Salt Lake City.

 

The odds heavily favor Pence. His delivery is smooth and fact-based. He knows how to use tone and dramatic pause effectively, given his background as a radio talk show host. And he is not flappable or prone to shoot from the hip remarks.

Harris, in contrast, is an intense and emotional speaker. She makes wild unverifiable claims and uses the racist or sexist tag all too often. Her antics were shot down well by Tulsi Gabbard during the Democrat primary debates and her now famous exchange with Gabbard brought down her presidential aspirations in one fell swoop.

Even the reliably leftist New York Times can see Pence’s advantages, “After four years at Mr. Trump’s side, he has close experience with the major policy and political challenges that are bound to come up on Wednesday, especially on the virus and the economy. And Mr. Pence went through such a debate in 2016, where he checked all of the boxes of an effective No. 2 candidate: He was a diligent defender of Mr. Trump and relentless attacker of Mrs. Clinton. By contrast, Ms. Harris has been in Washington since only 2017, and relegated to the sidelines as a Democrat in the Republican-controlled Senate. She has appeared in debates while running for senator and attorney general from California — much smaller-scale affairs against opponents of less ambition and talent than Mr. Pence…The two bring markedly different styles to this debate. Mr. Pence, in his session with Mr. Kaine and during an earlier debate when he ran for governor of Indiana, proved to be a calm and disciplined figure, difficult to fluster and, given his easy bearing, unexpectedly adept at going on the attack.”

“There’s a reason why people question the trustworthiness of Hillary Clinton — and that’s because they’re paying attention,” Mr. Pence said in his contentious debate (at least by the standards of 2016) with Mr. Kaine…He speaks quickly, rarely leaving a space between sentences for an opponent to jump in. ‘He is a very consistent, smooth, regulated debater,’ said John D. Podesta, who was Mrs. Clinton’s campaign chairman in 2016. ‘His experience as a radio host taught him to be well prepared. He’ll be the anti-Trump in this debate. It will be the opposite of what you saw last Tuesday…He’ll come in at you,” Mr. Podesta said. “He’ll come well prepared. He can go on the attack. It will be very modulated, silky.’ ”

If Mike Pence can lure Kamala Harris into screeching left wing generalities and if she predictably tries to mount an ad hominem attack, or tries to put distance between Pence and the president, she will be slammed down hard. It will be an interesting night.