The content of the initial two campaign debates have not included anything resembling fun or humor, but some saw a little levity in the Pence/Harris face-off when a curious fly briefly took center stage.
The vice presidential debate featured plexiglass barriers to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. They were no match for the night’s most talked-about intruder — a fly that briefly buzzed around the stage before landing and staying on Mike Pence’s head for a while. If you watch the video, Senator Kamala Harris appears to take notice.
The fly's antics came while a sensitive issue was being discussed.
But as the insect took up residence on Pence's white hair, the social media reaction was fairly immediate. Senator Joe Biden's campaign tweeted an image of him menacingly holding a flyswatter.
Biden tweeted a photo of himself clutching an orange flyswatter under the heading “Pitch in $5 to help this campaign fly.” Moments later, he tweeted again, this time highlighting “Flywillvote.com,” which took users to a website set up for his campaign to help supporters make plans to vote.
“That’s not on your TV. It's on his head,” tweeted MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow. Others joked about the creature perhaps getting stuck in hair spray — or possibly now being a prime candidate for coronavirus testing.
Pence had spent much of the night shaking his head in response to Harris' answers. But the vice president didn't appear to notice the fly's arrival. Despite his talking and normal body movements, the hot stage lights and those virus-fighting barriers, the fly was unperturbed. It finally flew away on its own.
Wednesday night’s visitor wasn’t the first fly to take center stage at a presidential debate. In 2016, one briefly landed between Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s eyes during a town hall-style debate with now-President Donald Trump. Clinton didn't flinch.
President Barack Obama, however, took action when confronted with an airborne distraction during the taping of a television interview in 2009. Obama stopped speaking to swat at a buzzing fly and tell it to “get out of here." As interviewer John Harwood quipped, “That's the most persistent fly I've ever seen,” Obama concentrated on its path and swatted it dead.