Harris versus Trump
Why this Presidential Debate could be significant
“A knife fight in a phone booth” is how the race between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump has been described, and the same can be said about Tuesday’s debate between these two very different candidates. It promises to be one of the most watched presidential debates of recent times.
But do presidential debates count?
The first ever televised presidential debate took place on September 26, 1960 between Vice President Richard Nixon and Senator John F. Kennedy, and has been credited in part for Kennedy prevailing in the general election. Specifically, the optics of that debate — a haggard Nixon in contrast to a relaxed, telegenic Kennedy. Nixon had refused make-up and his stubble (the five o’clock shadow) showed on the black and white television screens. He sweated under the hot studio lights and his light gray suit faded to match the background as well as his skin complexion.
Following Nixon’s death, Max Frankel of The New York Times wrote, “Nixon lost a TV debate, and the Presidency, to John F. Kennedy in 1960 because of a sweaty upper lip.” The respected journalist Walter Lippmann wrote in his column the day after the debate that the television cameras “were very hard on Mr. Nixon. … They made him look sick, which he is not, and they made him look older and more worn than he is.” In…
