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Wednesday nights kickoff episode of the Mike and Mala show wasnt just the soon-to-be-forgotten sole vice presidential debate of 2020. No, it was something far more important: the first exhibition game of Campaign 2024.

Whether Donald Trump wins or loses on Nov. 3, Pence is in a stronger position than anybody to be the GOPs next batter up. Hes got name recognition, all the experience you could ask for, and hes battle-tested. He might be the only figure who can unite the Normies and the Trumpies both the boring, staid suburbanites in khakis who vote GOP because they like normal stuff like low taxes, light regulation and cultural conservatism; and the in-your-face guys who ride Harleys with MAGA flags flying and love Trump mainly because he owns the libs and makes fun of Jim Acosta.

As for Kamala Harris, I dont know what the actuarial tables say but when I ask my Magic 8 Ball whether she will become president by 2024, it comes back with Signs point to yes. Even if Hidin Joe Biden somehow makes it to 2024 intact, hell be too tired to run for a second term. Hell, these days hes too tired to make it to lunch: He typically calls a lid on the day at 9 a.m., and presumably spends the morning getting EKGs. So Harris-Pence isnt just the undercard for 2020, its how the 2024 race is shaping up to be.

And both sides are eager to make that happen. Harris, who was such a political superstar back in the forgotten era known as 2019 that when she dropped out of the race in December, 97 percent of Democrats wanted someone other than her to be the party nominee, is today the toast of DonkeyTown. Shes historic! She checks so many of the identity-politics boxes that Dems mistake for qualifications that the party has to pretend shes a talented politician, when anyone who watched the Democratic debates just last year knows shes one of those looks-better-on-paper candidates.

As for Pence, he was such a marvelous debater on Wednesday, when he properly ignored all questions and instead calmly disassembled Harris like a biology student dissecting a frog, that he reminded everyone he used to argue with people for a living, back when he was a talk-radio guy. What might a GOP be like that was led by someone who could thoroughly, rationally articulate all of the partys positions without rage-tweeting or getting his facts jumbled?

Pence is the answer. And unlike Mitt Romney, he doesnt carry the baggage of seeming like the consultant who just recommended your boss fire you. When Harris tried to paint Pence as an extremist on abortion, he turned the issue around completely as he placidly explained that Harris is the real extremist because she supports taxpayer funding for abortion up till the moment of birth. Harris shook her head when Pence said this but she didnt rebut the charge because its true. Its the kind of thing shed be happy to say if she was speaking to the Democrats Hollywood donor class. When Pence pulled a Tulsi Gabbard on her and pointed out how, as San Francisco DA, she had enacted the exact opposite program of the Democratic Partys vision of justice, she didnt rebut him on that either, but retreated to a lame series of irrelevant points shed already made earlier. She wouldnt answer the question of whether she or Biden would pack the Supreme Court, instead mangling an anecdote about how Abe Lincoln supposedly declined to nominate a Supreme Court justice in an election season. (He didnt make the nomination because the Senate was out of session at the time.)

Harris habit of smiling sarcastically and smirking in disbelief as Pence was ripping her to pieces may have excited the yass-queen bloggers, but it played horribly on TV. If Biden gets elected president, itll be because most of the voters think hes a harmless old dude who wont shake things up too much. Should his running mate become president before 2024, her far-left program, combined with her inability to do anything but grin when challenged on it, will make her very unpopular very quickly. Mike Pence proved this week hes got what it takes to make history by being the first candidate to beat an incumbent woman president.

Kyle Smith is critic-at-large for National Review.

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Mike Pence proves he's the great GOP hope for 2024 - New York Post