By Richard A. Lee

I was at a dinner Tuesday night so I only caught about the last 15 minutes of the vice president debate. My immediate reaction was that Vance seemed very comfortable, and Walz was stumbling with his answers. 

Since I hadn’t seen any other parts if the debate, I scrolled through X to see how people were reacting. Almost all of the posts, regardless if they came from Democrats or Republicans, said Walz was doing a terrible job. 

Vance, on the other hand, was poised and confident, even as he spewed falsehoods. He came across as a more likable version of Donald Trump. He made the same arguments as Trump, but he did so through civil and polite statements, not through name-calling and personal attacks. 

The big question now is how much of a factor will the debate be in the election.

On one hand, it is possible the poor performance by Walz won’t hurt the Harris/Walz campaign too much. VP debates usually have little impact, and today’s news cycle moves so fast it could be soon forgotten.

On the other hand, I feel voters sitting on the fence could be more apt to choose Trump/Vance, based on Vance’s demeanor and the less-than-stellar job that Walz did.

Not that anyone asked, but if I were working for the Harris/Walz campaign, here is what I would recommend: Going forward, voters need to see more of Governor Walz and less of Coach Walz. His folksy story and regular guy image are growing old. He needs to show voters that he has the executive skills to serve as VP, one heartbeat away from president.

For Trump/Vance: The best strategy is what we saw last night. Focus on the issues, especially the ones where Democrats are weak. Most of what Trump has been doing strengthens his base, but does little or nothing to strengthen ties to issues in which Democrats are weak.

These are just my thoughts on strategy. A lot of people are being paid a lot of money these days to give their clients campaign device. I’m glad those days are behind me (maybe not the big money part), and I can comfortably opine on politics from my perspective as a college professor.

Richard Lee, executive director of the Jandoli Institute, covered politics and government as a reporter and later served as Deputy Director of Communication for two New Jersey governors.

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