Armenia and azerbaijan agreed to work to end their conflict. In just under an hour the 2 candidates for Vice President of the United States will face off in their only debate of the campaign ahead of the november 3rd president ial election clear plastic barriers will separate mike pence and. Have both tested negative for corona virus pictures here from Salt Lake City ahead of this 90 minute debate in the state of utah this is the hole in the university of utah where it will all happen. Rob reynolds as our correspondent there today so much anticipation for this one is that they were not usual for a Vice President ial debate these are not usual times. Absolutely kemal i mean the the Vice President ial debates every 4 years are usually pretty forgettable although those of us who are of a certain age will never forget lloyd benson is classic putdown of dan quayle in 1988 senator youre no jack kennedy but this time the stakes are even higher the focus will we squarely i think on covert 19 and the pandemic sen Campbell Harris joe bidens running mate will attempt to lay the failures of the administrations ability to contain the virus squarely at the feet of not only day donald trump but also Vice President pence shes also likely to bring up the fact that the Trump Administration is attempting to invalidate in the courts the Affordable Care act also known as obamacare in the midst of this pandemic thats claimed more than 210000 lives in this country as for his part Vice President pence is likely to continue President Trump strategy of trying to prove portray harris as some kind of dangerous left wing radical who might have joe biden in her thrall hes also expected to try as again President Trump has to depict the coronavirus pandemic as something that is receding in the Rearview Mirror its going to be a very consequential evening heres a preview. And its the hit spinning events of the past week the Vice President ial debate on wednesday takes an unprecedented significance this is going to be a critically important debate usually debates are side shows with the candidates earnestly discussing issues in tossing the occasion. Verbal zinger but as Vice President mike pence and senator camel harris take to the stage in Salt Lake City the main issue is literally a matter of life or death i think theres going to be an enormous focus on the president s health mr bidens health as well frankly they are the 2 oldest president ial nominees in American History but right now with the president ill and some questions swirling about how truly ill he is it really puts into stark contrast what this debate is actually about it is making sure that a person is ready to become president at a moments notice in terms of substance the debate will almost certainly focus on how the trumpet ministration has handled the pandemic that puts pince who chairs the White House Coronavirus task force in a difficult spot he ran the task force he was chosen by the president to do it he was responsible for those early you know statements about just flattening the curbs i mean i imagine those that are working with con laris in preparation for this debate are spending a lot of their time coming up with creative ways to lay this all at the feet of the Vice President and the president the style of the 2 candidates is quite different pences stoic unflappable and unlikely to get rattled on stage hes a seasoned debater and his experience as a radio talk show host in the 1990 s. Prepared him to think on his feet harris a former courtroom prosecutor has shown her ability to disconcert Administration Officials in Senate Hearings i wouldnt i wouldnt. Yes on a. Trick question i will repeat it with great uncertainty over whether the 2 remaining president ial debates will take place at all the showdown in Salt Lake City may be the last debate before election day in a campaign full of unpredictable twists. Rob just a word on the mechanics of tonight if you wouldnt mind plexiglas shields in between the 2 candidates. Thats right plexiglass shields the candidates will be about 2 meters apart instead of one meter as was originally planned they will be seated at desks susan page the moderator from the wash the Washington Bureau chief of usa today newspaper harris and hence will be the only ones allowed not to wear masks everyone else has to wear a mask or they will be escorted out according to the president ial Debate Commission and there was some late in the game jockeying for advantage between harris and parents camps when the issue of more plexiglas surrounding them came up and spokesperson for parents. And weve lost our link with rob reynolds there in Salt Lake City but well catch up with him again of course just before the debate and then off to as well you know the polls have consistently shown one in 5 voters say they dont have much of an opinion of either my pencil com so do we have an opportunity here for both of them to make an impression is just the numbers to get us going and it sells a poll released on tuesday which shows common heris schools a higher favor ability rating 45 percent of voters viewing who positively might 37. 00 but he schools more favorably among white voters 47 percent like him there 32 percent view cama harris positively. 48 percent of black voters back harris pence but just 16 maybe not a surprise there but in this scene in polling as well which is conducting just off the President Trump announced his Coronavirus Diagnosis 62 percent of americans said they thought pence was qualified to serve as president what with an hour to go before the debate were going to have our own little predebate debate shall we got 2 guests joining us from either side of the divide weve got on the left the screen here Derek Plummer in washington d. C. Has a democratic strategist and in Sandy Springs georgia king a republican analyst 1st things 1st no talking over each other and no name calling please because we want to be better than last night to mel let me start with you thats almost the pose thing isnt it that these 2 candidates have to improve and it shouldnt be difficult to improve on last weeks president ial debate yeah absolutely i dont think thats been the issue and one that i think i do know is that both of them were in 2 different tones of the conversation and so im interested to see which tone is going to dominate the other im actually excited to hear from by the president praised plays a very supportive role to our president who has a huge personality so im excited to kind of introduce him to the world because he has been kind of quiet he definitely has a lot to say i am also interested here is he is going to as common here is the question that youve been avoiding i mean such as you know is joe biden segregationist or not how do you feel about that now that youre standing beside him you know i know theres a lot of key issues but im really excited to see where this goes and i hope he does hot button topics he needs to ginnell show the American People who he is doesnt he as you pointed out there but i mean the reason im saying that is because this could just turn into 90 minutes of talking about donald trump very very easily. Very insulated very easily and thats what i dont want and i dont think kamel want that to be the case even though i feel like she wants to probably hit on all the issues that kind of fire people but you know President Trump has a great record apart from any of the other things that she may try to attack him on and i think that by his present tense this is going to be an opportunity for you know like i said to show what hes been doing all this time because he has just been sitting in the white house and i also think that if he brings it back to that that he that would show america that we have a strong duo versus just having one strong figure in the in the white house and spring plumber in washington d. C. Whats your take on well 1st of all what comes to harris has to do tonight shes a name people know her they know all for her but maybe they dont know about her or is a potential leader. Yeah i mean so a couple of things you know its interesting you know says she hopes that they dont talk about lone trunk because poll numbers might principle or numbers i wouldnt want to talk about dont try to be there i mean look the truth is that downtown was wildly unpopular both he and my pins have led to the worst recession that weve seen here in the United States has the since the Great Depression the 1930 s. There are now more than 211000 americans dead as a result of the failed leadership of downturn and my parents who led the crowd in task force who for months downplay the very of this virus who for months have tried to say that its just going to disappear and now its front and center because our president was irresponsible as hes been going out campaigning the people around him have been irresponsible and so i think were going to see them come in the harris tonight is really you know make an indictment against mike pence in the they dont leadership of both white pants and donald trump i would also say that. If if my kind were the same janells advice and gringo segregation i think that would be a really poor mistake given that donald trump with a view to denounce White Supremacy his last last week and right now we have a racist in the white house and enabler in mike pence and i dont think they want to actually go down that road from trying hence and ministration a Campaign Perspective jenelle of say youre shaking your head ill come back to you in a 2nd dont worry but i do want to well actually what i want to point out is that the 3 of us have been talking for 3 and a half minutes already and we have basically talked about donald trump you know focus so much on that and thats the point im trying to make that this is supposed to be about the Vice President and god forbid talking about some policy it all comes back to him every time that derek. But its not just but its not just about as i said his own Big Personality its about his failed leadership and so were living in dollar terms of america so what does that look like that looks like a an economy that is on the brink of falling off of another clip that looks like millions of americans getting ready to Lose Health Care as a result of a policy of donald trump and mike pence that also looks like africanamericans hispanic americans and others disproportionate being impacted by the the old policies of this administration so there is substance there and arguably my peers does not want to talk about that substance but when you talk about criminal justice you for harriss lentil criminal justice or when we talk about. Human issues joe biden income ahead of lebanons issues and those are policy issues because there are things that we are confronting in dealing with every day here in the United States ok you know to and im not even going to ask you a question because i think youve got some stuff there. Absolutely you know i just love how my democratic hatter counterparts always go to the races thing and try to call the president or racism or if hes a raise if hes a terrible racist because hes certainly done more for africanamericans in the Democratic Party has done for years so in the race is made and by golly im ok with it when it comes to denouncing White Supremacy i dont know how many times we need him to that now twice the prince hes done it over and over and over again so i dont need him to say it but the 15th time i know that hes already in support of the Africanamerican Community because its actions reflect it i mean like i said we have about 7000 people now i think we might be up to 11000 people majority africanamerican will be released from prison under the 1st step act if you see us all have to come back to the white house every 2 years before finding because of this president and the list can go on i know i know him and when you talk about the economy i also love how democrats will say that the president led us into a recession as if he cooked up kobe at 19 in his backyard and leased it on to america the American People in the world i mean all of that the entire world is dealing with this is something that weve had to manage and weve managed well in the state that im here in georgia and were doing great right now number one with the with unemployment after this pandemic hit so i mean its all about managing and i think the president s doing a great job of that i just think that Going Forward we need to focus on it but facts are not speculations and opinions and if your argument is that you know the president s race then i mean we have joe biden who just recently talked about a black woman who stopped to show i mean its just absolutely ridiculous how those statements get a pat ok when the president of the principle that its high its a problem lets move on to soap and say sorry im going to try today or just im going to both of you because i do want to move on i think we can again were getting bogged down in a whole lot of other issues if we were to actually hear some policy from these 2 candidates tonight what do you want to hear derek the 1st one what do you want to hear from chama heris stuff of substance about what is the next 4 years would look like under her and joe biden. Well 1st i think despite you know. Statement the reality is that 25 percent of the worlds deaths it related to that are here in the u. S. Because of your leadership so 1st i want to hear from comma harrison how she and joe biden are going to correct the failures of the trump pence in the history i want to know how they are going to Start Testing 200000000 have 200000000 test a day which we have not been able to have under this krrish i also want to know what theyre going to do related to infrastructure and i want to know what theyre going to do as a country as relates to actually helping africanamericans which we have not seen from this administration i think its absolute values which you know said you know anyone who even tries to say the downturn has done more for africanamericans in last 50 years has no idea of history that saying that hes done more than e. J. When it came to the Voting Rights act or the Civil Rights Act of that their housing act dont trump cant touch his predecessors more importantly when we start on policy and i want to know what were talking were going to do when it comes to the environment mike pence and donald trump have done everything they can to roll back the environmental progress that we have made in the United States everything from the paris climate of course right to it to reducing the number of places where people can drill in our in our National National parks etc are you trying to roll back cafe standards in terms of cars so what i want to hear from tom harris is how shes going to how she enjoyed by the going to turn back the clock on the disasters from pince record ok then dirt final word with a gentle then again i want to focus on policy and substance mike pence could easily say well he is what we say weve done in the past 4 years but it also has to be about obviously the next 4 years what he want to hear. Well you know the president and Vice President has been talking about when they were going to do Going Forward for a while now i mean you know president truck came to atlanta and they talked about that platinum plan for the Africanamerican Community so what i would like to hear as it relates to tolerance is what harris and biden plans to do because they dont seem to talk about policy and i all i mean they talk about mass and they talk about you know racism but they dont talk about policy so i would like to know what do get a stand when it comes to pranking there are a lot of workers that are looking to find out they dont have jobs or not at the should biden take the white house and i would like to hear what is their black agenda if they even have what i would like to hear about the Green New Deal where the she supports and since we know that joe biden does support the Green New Deal although his website says he does and so i would like to hear me say about that and then lastly on since we do have the races the lays out thats where the Democratic Party comes from i would love to hear it you know just if they are going to initiate anything when it comes to the community and lastly when it comes to l. B. J. I think its opening the democrats bring up l. B. J. In the black community because l. B. J. All he did all of his policies that led to failures in our community and disruption of the family that has led to poverty well its not the kind of craziness so im just exactly going to happen and looking towards it we all gentle thing in the red corner in the blue coat of this has been great than