Yahoo News Time for Kamala Harris to face some real scrutiny
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As a former prosecutor, Kamala Harris has years of experience picking opponents apart in a courtroom, but as a politician she has faced little cross-examination herself.
The US vice-president has not taken part in a debate in four years.
And since entering the White House, she has taken a leaf from Joe Biden’s book in evading regular, rigorous media grillings. That trend did not change when she became the Democratic 2024 candidate.
She has never even met Donald Trump, whom she will face across the debate stage for the first time on Tuesday night.
In many ways, that makes the Republican ex-president – who routinely takes questions from reporters and makes spontaneous TV appearances – far more prepared for their live, televised showdown.
The debate could prove to be a pivotal moment with just weeks to go before November’s election.
Since replacing Mr Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket, Ms Harris has turned the race on its head, out-polling and out-fundraising her Republican rival.
But her momentum appears to have stalled. The latest major poll shows Trump leading Ms Harris nationally by a single point, although she leads or is tied with him in all the key battleground states.
With the Harris and Trump campaigns yet to agree to another debate, Tuesday night could prove to be the final opportunity for either candidate to dramatically alter the trajectory of the race.
The pressure is on Ms Harris to prove she can perform under the spotlight.
That means doing more than simply surpassing Mr Biden’s woeful performance in June, which sealed his departure from the race.
She must introduce herself to the millions of Americans who are still unclear about her policy platform and offer more convincing explanations for her shift to the centre ground since her 2019 presidential bid.
Ms Harris’s team is upbeat, and believe the primetime head-to-head will allow her to show off her prosecutor’s chops by holding Trump to account.
She has been sequestered in a hotel in Pennsylvania for days to studiously prepare, and plans to turn the tables on Trump by painting him as the real flip-flopper on key issues.
Part of her strategy, aides suggest, will be to goad Trump into losing his cool and cast him in an unflattering light for the potentially millions of Americans watching at home.
But while Ms Harris has been an effective deliverer of set-pieces, she has shown far less dexterity when required to think on her feet.
At 78, Trump may be almost two decades her senior, but he is adept at skewering opponents with off-the-cuff jibes.
The former president has done far less formal preparation for his showdown with Ms Harris, if his campaign aides are to be believed.
Instead, he has sat down for some policy “briefings”, but has not partaken in mock debates.
Some Harris allies fear the vice-president may be over-correcting with her preparations and appear as too much of a policy “wonk”, recalling Barack Obama’s disastrous 2012 debate.
Whatever the outcome, American voters should hope to finally see Ms Harris scrutinised like never before.
