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SALT LAKE CITY — As Americans tuned into the vice presidential debate Wednesday, it was a stark difference to the debate held a week prior for the two presidential candidates: less fighting and slightly more policy-driven as both candidates made cases for their respective party's platform.
The debate went on without a hitch, but there were weeks and weeks of planning for just the hour and a half political performance. With the University of Utah hosting the debate, KSL.com got a first-hand look at what it took to put on the show. Here's a look at some of what it takes to host a debate where the nation watches from afar.
Establish a safe perimeter
In the week leading up to the debate, metal barricades were installed on campus around Presidential Circle. The barricade is similar to those installed during presidential party conventions, where secret service and other law enforcement agents patrol the barrier to ensure the safety of those inside the perimeter, namely the two candidates running for vice president.
Once the perimeter had been established with all the metal barricades up, the Secret Service performs a sweep of the area to ensure its safety. During this time, there is limited access to the area.
Only credentialed individuals are allowed within the perimeter after being shuttled to the barricaded area from their parking space at Rice-Eccles Stadium. These individuals must go through a brief secret service check when they arrive, even though they're already credentialed to enter the perimeter. Once inside the perimeter, the Presidential Circle is free to roam.
COVID-19 Safety
Hosting a debate of any magnitude takes a lot of work, but throw in a global pandemic and it gets much trickier — even more so with the Trump administration riddled by a recent outbreak that started last week. As a precaution, vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris and current VP Mike Pence were tested daily leading up to the Wednesday night debate.
The two candidates sat 12 feet apart from each other, an increase to the previously agreed upon distance of 7 feet, and a plexiglass barrier separated them to limit exposure to COVID-19.
Kingsbury Hall, where the debate was held, limited the number of attendees allowed in the building to a handful of University of Utah students and various guests and asked them to socially distance. Other than those broadcasting the debate, media was held out of the building and were located in a large tent just outside Kingsbury Hall.
All media, and others allowed inside the perimeter, are required to test negative for COVID-19 at least 72 hours before the event. The test was self-administered but under the direction and supervision of medical professionals at Rice-Eccles Stadium leading up to Wednesday's debate. A green wristband worn on the wrist indicates an individual has tested negative; this is checked before anyone can enter the media tent or other areas inside the perimeter. Additionally, masks are required to be worn inside the perimeter.
Transform Kingsbury Hall
It's impossible to document everything that takes place to prepare a building for a nationally-televised debate; however, the preparation started well before the candidates took the stage to do walkthroughs and get a sense of the venue. Even up until Wednesday, the debate stage was still taking shape to ensure signage, audio and everything — including the last-minute add of plexiglass — looked perfect. Many workers spent hours pouring over the details to ensure the stage looked flawless in time for primetime.
Leading up to Wednesday, fill-ins were used to test everything about the staging area. Nothing can go wrong in that hour and a half, so there's practices, walkthroughs and everything else you can imagine to ensure everything works the way it's supposed to when Harris and Pence took the stage.
Spin Alley
In traditional debates without COVID-19, the respective candidates would have various representatives to provide talking points for the media on the issues discussed in the debate. This is an opportunity for campaigns to clarify comments made or to really drive home the points their candidate made in the debate. To avoid what is called a media scrum, the spin alleys were not established for this debate.
TV Platforms and the Media Tent
There's a lot of media working at a debate — many local and national media types trying to report on one of the biggest events of the year. As a result, the debate commission, the individuals responsible for hosting these debates, build a giant platform for all the TV crews to host their shows or live shots. It's all to get Kingsbury Hall in the background and to establish that they're at the debate.
The platform can only hold a limited number of media, despite its massive size, so a lottery is created to ensure some national and local media have an opportunity to claim a spot with the host site in the background. It may sound silly, but it goes a long way to showing the public you're at the event and reporting live.
Inside the media tent, it's a little less chaotic and more open. Traditionally these locations are crammed full with visiting and local media, but in a pandemic, the location is spread out and the number of individuals is limited — some of that is a result of media organizations not wanting to travel when there's little interaction with campaign representatives.
Inside the tent, media is asked to buy a seat that features a 6-foot table and a TV to watch the debate, with loudspeakers broadcasting the debate overhead. The space can be used to report live on the radio or to write stories like this on a computer. And for the media member that somehow doesn't have anything to do during the debate, they can play "Debate BINGO," which was provided by the University of Utah.
