The late, great Democratic debate coach Christine Jahnke had one piece of advice for female candidates trying to break through during a debate: interrupt a man.
That may not be an option for Kamala Harris on Tuesday for the biggest test of her career.
Harris, after much negotiation, agreed to a debate plan that would allow for microphones to be muted when the other candidate is talking.
And her campaign is worried that will put her at a disadvantage when she debates Donald Trump in her do-or-die primetime showdown on ABC.
One of their goals for the debate is to create a viral moment similar to what Harris experienced during her questioning of Brett Kavanaugh in his Supreme Court confirmation hearing and during her vice presidential debate with Mike Pence, when she famously told him: ‘I’m speaking.’
Those moments played over and over again on social media, casting her in a good light. Her advisers expect many Americans will see the debate through those types of social media moments.
Kamala Harris is pictured in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she is spending five days in a pre-debate camp with her closest advisors, preparing for the biggest night of her political career
Trump, however, will be on mute while Harris answers questions, denying him the opportunity to interrupt and her the opportunity to snap back at him.
Her communications director Brian Fallon wrote to ABC News, in its acceptance of the debate rules, that the muted mics ‘will serve to shield Donald Trump from direct exchanges with the Vice President. We suspect this is the primary reason for his campaign’s insistence on muted microphones.’
But some argue Harris’ move is risky.
‘There can be BAD moments too, clips for social media go both ways,’ Todd Graham, known as America’s Debate Coach and Professor of Debate at Southern Illinois University, told DailyMail.com.
‘If Harris loses her temper (in a bad way – there are acceptable and unacceptable ways to show disgust in debates), then she would have the viral moment and not the one she wanted.’
Temperament is one thing Harris is working on as she prepares for Tuesday’s match-up.
Trump has already started his attacks and lowering expectations for himself.
He told Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Wednesday of Harris: ‘They’re going to get the questions in advance.’
He didn’t cite his sources and ABC News, which is hosting the debate, has said neither side will see the questions ahead of time.
But it shows his intention to try and rattle Harris.
Trump also brought on board Tulsi Gabbard, the former representative from Hawaii who ran for president as a Democrat in 2020 in a crowded field that also included Harris. Gabbard’s debate performance in that year’s primary did leave Harris shaken up.
In Harris’ practice debate sessions, aides will be pushing her so she can practice remaining calm in order to keep Trump from getting under her skin.
Her team needs to ‘prepare her for Donald Trump to walk in there hot and prepare to attack and get her off balance,’ Democratic strategist Donna Brazile told CNN.
For her part, Harris is looking for her own ways to unnerve Trump and just maybe get that social media moment anyway.
She is expected to go on the offensive on policy issues and on the attack if Trump says any falsehoods.
Trump can be a wild card, however, and Harris can’t prep for everything – although she will try.
Harris is locked up with staff in Pittsburgh, going through five days of intense debate prep before the September 10th showdown in Philadelphia.
The debate will be the first time she and Trump actually meet.
The two have been in the same room before – Harris, as senator, attended Trump’s State of Union addresses in the House chamber when he was president but the two have never been formally introduced.
The pressure is on. Joe Biden’s performance in the first presidential debate resulted in his departure from the race. While no one expects the same result for Harris, she will need to show she can take on the former president.
‘Harris’s sharpest contrast with Biden will be simple but fleeting; all it will take is showing up,’ Carlos Lozada wrote in Thursday’s New York Times.
‘Assuming the vice president speaks with even modest eloquence and clarity, calls out Trump’s distortions and doesn’t declare victory over Medicare, she will have skipped over the lowest of bars that Biden set in the June debate against Trump, instantly appearing more presidential than the current president.’
Kamala Harris took a selfie with Democratic Senator John Fetterman when she arrived in Pennsylvania; Tuesday’s debate will take place in Philadelphia
Trump has repeatedly worked to tie Harris to Biden’s presidency and he is expected to try and do the same on debate night.
But the Democratic nominee is projecting confidence.
‘So far, so good,’ Harris told reporters on Wednesday when they asked how her preparations are going.
She is studying hard, although some caution against over-preparing, which many felt Biden did ahead of his disastrous performance against Trump.
In her preparations, Harris likes to use note cards and is a voracious consumer of policy briefing books.
And she also has been going through mock debates.
In the role of Trump is Philippe Reines, a longtime adviser to Hillary Clinton who played Trump in her debate prep.
He even dons Trump’s signature red tie during the practice sessions to help the candidate focus.
Reines, when he prepared Clinton to go head-to-head with Trump in the 2016 debates, simply didn’t shoot one liners her way, he helped her prepare how to avoid a hug from her Republican rival.
Footage from their prep session shows, as their practice session began, Reines walked toward Clinton, both arms extended in hug preparation mode. Clinton walked to him and high fived one of his hands, moving quickly past him to avoid his embrace.
From there, Reines proceeded to hammer Clinton as Trump would, preparing her for the inevitable hits from the Republican candidate.
Also helping Harris in her debate preparations is a small team of advisers, led by Rohini Kosoglu, a top policy adviser, and Karen Dunn, a longtime Democratic debate specialist who also helped Clinton prep for Trump.
Others include Harris’ White House chief of staff, Lorraine Voles; her campaign chief of staff, Sheila Nix; and Sean Clegg, a veteran strategist.
And Harris has another advantage: she is close with Clinton and Biden, the only two other people to have debated Trump in the Democratic Party.
She speaks to them regularly and they have likely spoken on this issue.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre refused to detail any conversations between Harris and Biden.
‘They talk regularly, they talk very much regularly. You saw them yesterday and they certainly stay in touch. I just don’t have anything beyond that to share,’ she said Thursday on board Air Force One.
‘He’s looking forward to watching her on Tuesday.’
Kamala Harris and Mike Pence in the 2020 vice presidential debate
Donald Trump and Joe Biden in their June debate in Atlanta
A former prosecutor, Harris is fierce at asking questions and that could be one way she can goad Trump – to question him on his policies as president, his handling of the coronavirus, the January 6th insurrection at the Capitol and his false claims he won the 2020 race.
Her campaign has tried repeatedly to get under his skin. Her running mate Tim Walz described Trump as ‘weird,’ an assertion that the former president pushed back against, saying it was his rivals who are ‘weird.’
She is an experienced debater on the national stage, having run for president in 2020 and then debated Pence in that year’s vice-presidential debate.
But the expectation is different when you’re at the top of the ticket.
Above all, Harris must be ready to fight.
‘Democrats are quite weary of their candidate being the polite one who gets steamrolled by Trump,’ Todd Graham told DailyMail.com.
‘They want to watch this debate and be proud of Harris in a way they could not for Clinton or Biden,’ he said. ‘For Democrats, they need a fighter who will punch back in order to shake off 8 years of defending what they perceive as a “timid” candidate.’
