Aaron Blake: “Running mates are often tasked with being attack-dogs for their tickets. And both Vance and Walz got their licks in as the debate wore on — including a testy exchange on democracy and the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the end.”
“But it was also a remarkably substance-focused and largely civil debate.”
“One of Walz’s most interesting strategies was in not so much attacking Vance, but in casting him as someone who might actually be reasonable — in contrast to Trump.”
Axios notes the debate “offered a rare lesson in civility — a reminder of what politics used to be, and what it hopefully still can be.”
CNN: “The unusually normal debate ended with another refreshingly normal moment – the kind that hasn’t been seen over the past decade of presidential debates. The candidates shook hands and chatted away from the microphones, and lingered as their wives joined them.”
