Heres what we can expect tonight in these covid times. For the first time ever, plexiglass will separate mike pence and Kamala Harris on stage. The candidates will be separated by a bit more than 12 feet apart. Tonights moderator, susan page of usa today, is not prerelease topics. The Debate Commission says there will be nine segments about 10 minutes each. Lets bring in tom bevan, president and cofounder of real clear politics. Tom, good evening and welcome back to our coverage. A little more than a week later. Lets start with the Vice President. What is mike pences challenge tonight . Hes got a tall order. I think mike pence is going to have to be very, very sharp. Hes got to present a robust defense of the Trump Administrations record. He has to present a forwardlooking vision as to what the Trump Administrations will do if they were given another four years. He has to press Kamala Harris on the questions that the campaign has not answered. Does she and joe biden support packing the court . Will they call out antifa by name . A lot of those things, you have to do that and be aggressive by also while also being respectful. Bill flip it around. Kamala harris, big stage for her. Many a be familiar with mike pence. Many may not be familiar with her. What is the senators challenge . She has a lower bar to clear. She has to not get trapped in a bad moment, contradiction, something that will be considered a stumble. You can believe that Kamala Harris is going to abide by the rule not the best defense is a good offense. Shes going to bring up coronavirus. Mike pence, as the head of the Coronavirus Task force and the administrations record on the coronavirus, she will try to direct every question back to that. Bill we meet here eight days after what happened in cleveland, ohio. Do you expect tonight to be much different from the tone of more than a week ago . I think we will expect it will be much more orderly, less interruptions. I think both candidates are going to be aggressive and theyre going to try to make their points. There may be some interruptions, but i think they will both be respectful, in particular the Vice President. I think were going to see a different tone, different debate tonight. Bill tom, stand by. We will talk to you at the conclusion that see whether or not we are right or wrong over the next 90 minutes or so. Thank you, tom. Oftentimes these Vice President ial debates come in like the tide and they blow out as quickly as they come ashore on the beach. They dont seem to make much of a difference to the election overall. This, however, may be a very different scenario with the country 27 days away and the threat of covid in the white house. We now turn to susan page of usa today here in salt lake city. Susan good evening. From the university of utah in salt lake city, welcome to the first and only Vice President ial debate of 2020. Sponsored by the nonpartisan commission on president ial debates. Im susan page of usa today. It is my honor to moderate this debate, an important part of our democracy. In Kingsbury Hall tonight, we have a small and socially distant audience. We have taken extra precautions during this pandemic. Among other things, everyone in the audience is required to wear a face mask, and the candidates will be seated 12 feet apart. The audience is enthusiastic about their candidates but they have agreed to express that enthusiasm only twice. At the end of the debate and now, when i introduce the candidates. Please welcome california senator Kamala Harris and Vice President mike pence. [applause] [cheering] Vice President pence thank you. Susan senator harris and Vice President pence, thank you for being here. We are meeting as President Trump and the first lady continue to undergo treatment in washington after testing positive for covid19. We send our thoughts and prayers to them for their rapid and complete recovery and for the recovery of everyone afflicted by the coronavirus. The two campaigns and the commission on president ial debates have agreed to the ground rules for tonight. I am here to enforce them on behalf of the millions of americans who are watching. One note no one either campaign or at the commission or anywhere else has been told in advance what topics will be raised or what questions ill ask. This 90minute debate will be divided into nine segments of about 10 minutes each. Ill begin a segment by posing a question to each of you, sometimes a same question, sometimes a different question on the same topic. You will then have 2 minutes to answer without interruption by me or the other candidate. Then well take 6 minutes or so to discuss the issue. At that point, although there will always be more to say, we will move on to the next topic. We want a debate that is lively, but americans also deserve a discussion that is civil. These are tumultuous times, but we can and will have a respectful exchange about the big issues facing our nation. Lets begin with the ongoing pandemic that has cost our country so much. Senator harris, the coronavirus is not under control. Over the past week, Johns Hopkins reports that 39 states have had more covid cases over the past seven days then in the week before. Nine states have set new records. Even if a vaccine is released soon, the next administration will face hard choices. What would a Biden Administration due in january and february that a Trump Administration wouldnt do . Would you impose new lockdowns for businesses and schools in hot spots . A federal mandate to wear masks . You have 2 minutes to respond without interruption. Senator harris thank you, susan. The American People have witnessed what is the greatest failure of any president ial administration in the history of our country. Here are the facts. 210,000 deadr country and just the last several months. Over 7 Million People who have contracted this disease. One in five businesses closed. We are looking at front line workers who have been treated like sacrificial workers. We are looking at over 30 Million People who, in the last several months, had to file for unemployment. Heres the thing. On january 28, the Vice President and the president were informed about the nature of this pandemic. They were informed that its lethal in consequence, that its airborne, that will affect young people, and that it would be contracted because it is airborne. They knew what was happening, and they didnt tell you. Can you imagine if you knew on january 28, as opposed march 13th, when they knew what you might have done to prepare . They knew and they covered it up. The president said it was a hoax. They minimized the seriousness of it. The president said youre on one side of his ledger if you wear a mask, youre on the other side of his ledger if you dont. In spite of all that, today they still dont have a plan. They dont have a plan. Joe biden does. Our plan is about what we need to do around a National Strategy for contact tracing, testing, for administration of the vaccine and making sure that it will be free for all. Thats the plan that joe biden has and that i have, knowing that we have to get a hold of whats been going on and we need to save our country. Joe biden is the best leader to do that and frankly this administration has forfeited their right to reelection. Susan thank you, senator harris. Vice president pence, more than 210,000 americans have died of covid19 since february. The u. S. Death toll as a percentage of our population is higher than that of almost every other wealthy nation on earth. For instance, our death rate is two and a half times that of canada, next door. You head the administrations Coronavirus Task force. Why is the u. S. Death toll as a percentage of our population higher than that of almost every other wealthy country . You have 2 minutes to respond without interruption. Vice president pence susan, thank you. I want to thank this commission and the university of utah for hosting this event. Senator harris, its a privilege to be on the stage with you. Our nation has gone through very challenging time this year. But i want the American People to know that from the very first day President Donald Trump has but the health of americans first. Before there were more than five cases in the United States, all people who had returned from china, President Donald Trump did what no other american president had ever done. That was he suspended all travel from china, the secondlargest economy economy in the world. Now, senator, joe biden opposed the decision. He said it was xenophobic and hysterical. I can tell you, having led the white house Coronavirus Task force, that that decision alone by President Trump bought us in valuable time to stand up the greatest National Mobilization since world war ii. I believe it saved hundreds of thousands of american lives because without time, we were able to reinvent testing. Or than 115 million tests have been done to date. We were able to see to the delivery of billions of supplies for our doctors and nurses have the resources and supplies they needed. We began to develop a vaccine and to develop medicines and therapeutics that a been saving lives all along the way. Under President Trump leadership, operation warp speed we believe will have literally tens of millions of doses of a vaccine before the end of this year. The reality is when you look at the biden plan, it reads an awful lot like what President Trump and i and our task force have been doing every step of the way. Quite frankly, when i look at their plan that talks about advancing testing, creating new ppe, developing a vaccine, it looks a little bit like plagiarism, which is something joe biden knows a little bit about. I think the American People know that this is a president who is put America First and the American People i believe with my heart can be proud of the sacrifices they have made. It saved countless american lives. Susan senator harris. Would you like to respond . Senator harris absolutely. Whatever the Vice President is claiming the administered and has done, clearly it hasnt worked. When youre looking at over 210,000 dead bodies in our country, american lives that have been lost. Families that are grieving. You know, the Vice President is the head of the task force. And new on january 28 how serious this was. Thanks to bob woodward we learned that they knew about it and then when that was exposed, the Vice President said when asked why didnt yall tell anybody . He said because the president wanted people to remain calm. Susan, this is important. Mr. Vice president , im speaking. Vice president pence i have to weigh in. Susan 15 more seconds. Senator harris i want to ask the American People, how calm were you when you are panicked about where you are going to get your next roll of toilet paper . How calm were you when your kids were sent home from school and you didnt know when they could go back . How calm were you when children couldnt see their parents because they could kill them . Susan Vice President pence, you have one minute to respond. Vice president pence theres not a day thats gone by that i havent thought of every American Family thats lost a loved one. I want yall to know that you will be in our hearts and your their prayers. When you say what the American People have done over the last eight months hasnt worked, its a great disservice to the sacrifices the American People have made. The reality, if i may finish, senator. The reality is dr. Fauci said everything that he told the president in the oval office the president told the American People. President trump, i will tell y you, has boundless confidence in the American People and he always spoke with confidence that we would get through this together. When you say it hasnt worked, dr. Fauci and dr. Birx in our medical experts came to us in the second week o of march. They said if the president didnt take the unprecedented step of shutting down roughly half the American Economy that we could lose 2. 2 million americans. Thats the reality. They also said if we did everything right, susan, we could still lose more than 200,000 americans. One life lost is too many, susan. But the American People i believe deserve credit for the sacrifices they have made putting the health of their family and their neighbors first, our doctors, nurses, first responders. Im going to speak up on behalf of what the American People have done. Susan Vice President pence, you are in the front row at a rose garden event 11 days ago that what seems to be a super spread or event. No social distancing, few masks, no cluster of coronavirus cases among those who were there. How can you expect americans to follow the administrations safety guidelines to protect themselves from covid when you at the white house have not been doing so . Vice president pence the American People have demonstrated over the last eight months that when given the facts, they are willing to put the health of their families and their neighbors and people they dont even know first. President trump and i have great confidence in the American People and their ability to take that information and put it into practice. In the height of the epidemic, when we were losing a heartbreaking number. 2500 americans a day. Resources to new jersey and new york and new orleans and detroit. We told the American People were needed to be done, and the American People made the sacrifices. The outbreak in the sun belt, again americans stepped forward. The reality is the work of the president of the United States goes on. The vacancy on the Supreme Court of the United States has come upon us, and the president produced judge Amy Coney Barrett. Susan thank you. Vice president pence if i may say, that rose garden event, a great deal of speculation about it. My wife karen and i were there and honored to be there. Many of the people of that event were tested for coronavirus and it was an outdoor event which all of our scientists regularly and routinely advised. The difference here is President Trump and i trust the American People to make choices in the best interest of their health. Joe biden and Kamala Harris consistently talk about mandates, not just mandates with the coronavirus but government takeover of health care, the Green New Deal, all government control. We are about freedom and respecting the freedom of the American People. Senator harris lets talk about respecting the American People. You respect the American People when you tell them the truth. You respect the American People when you have the courage to be a leader, speaking of those things that you may not want people to hear but they need to hear so they can protect themselves. This administration stood on information that if you had as a parent, if you had as a worker knowing you didnt have enough money saved up and now youre standing in a food line because of the ineptitude of an administration that was unwilling to speak the truth to the American People. So lets talk about caring about the American People. The American People have had to sacrifice far too much because of the incompetence of this administration. Its asking too much of the people. Its asking too much of the people. If they would not be equipped with the information they need to help themselves to protect their parents and their childr children. Susan senator harris, for life to get back to normal, day after Anthony Fauci and other experts say that most of the people who can be vaccinated need to be vaccinated. Half of the american say they wouldnt take a vaccine if it was released now. If the Trump Administration approves a vaccine before or after the election, should americans take it . And would you take it . Senator harris if the