I'm Gram Slattery, and I was in Philadelphia for the debate that drew 67 million television viewers and stopped much of America in its tracks for 90 minutes on Tuesday night.
Going into the showdown, both campaigns saw the debate as perhaps the best remaining opportunity to move the needle in what is essentially a tied race less than eight weeks before Election Day.
Trump's allies wanted him to rise above the sexist and racist attacks he has leaned into on the campaign trail. Harris wanted to flesh out her policies before a captive audience and draw the former president into making a mistake that would make voters question his temperament.
On the whole, Harris succeeded, initiating a handshake at the start of the debate and baiting Trump repeatedly. The defining moment came about half an hour in, when Harris poked fun at his rallies, saying they were boring and that attendees left early out of exhaustion.
The former president - known to be very sensitive about rally sizes - appeared flustered. During his multipronged response, he claimed that immigrants in the country illegally were killing and eating people's pets in Springfield, Ohio. The moderators pointed out that that was untrue. Trump kept digging in.
"In Springfield, they're eating the dogs! The people that came in, they're eating the cats!" Trump said.
His comments quickly trended on social media. To cap off the night, as the candidates walked off stage, pop megastar Taylor Swift endorsed Harris in an Instagram post, a coveted nod that Democrats have been pursuing for months.
Trump advisers told me afterward they thought Trump did poorly and that he fell right into Harris' traps. But perhaps not poorly enough to change the race.
"Of course, I hated it, but I don't think it affects the outcome," said one longtime Trump associate.
The data so far has been messy. Reuters talked to 10 undecided voters after the debate who were broadly unswayed by Harris, saying they found her policy proposals too vague.
But we need a few days and a couple of quality polls to know for sure whether the debate moved the needle. With pretty much every competitive state on a razor's edge, even a marginal boost for either candidate would be major.
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