The real contest is between the deputies. Mike Pence and Kamala Harris.

If Joe Biden wins on November 3 there's a belief that Harris will succeed him midway through the term, because of his age (77), his health, or Harris quietly, systematically, undermines him.

If Trump wins, my bet is he will grow sick of it, having proved that his 2016 win over Hillary Clinton was no fluke, and at age 76 when he's midway into his second term, will gladly retire to his sizeable business interests, ahead of retirement and a walking stick.

I'm bewildered that the Republican campaign has not settled on the simple slogan - A vote for Biden is a vote for Harris.

She's more likely to succeed her boss than a relatively youthful Mike Pence, aged 61, would succeed Trump within the next four years.

I find it hard to believe Trump was able to beat the COVID-19 virus so quickly and easily at his age. Either he's still got it, or he never had it.

You never know with Trump.

Kamala Harris, 55, is the breath of fresh air in the campaign.

Her eyes light up when she speaks and she speaks so passionately.

She injects youth and vigour into the campaign of an old, creepy, sleepy gent who has had his day.

I watched Vice President Joe Biden on TV give a speech on his Australian visit in the final year of the Obama administration and it was one of the best I've heard.

But his days are passed. He fumbles his lines and looks and sounds old and robotic.

If Trump had checked himself and not interrupted Biden so much in their first debate, and gave him enough rope, I believe Biden would have faltered under pressure.

In a way Trump's mindless and noisy bluster protected his opponent.

I always thought Mike Pence was a nodding yes-man, standing in the back ground at Trump appearances.

But, in his debate with Harris the real Mike Pence emerged, and I think won the debate on points.

He did what Donald Trump couldn't do in his debate with Biden and that is, tackle his opponent on issues where they are vulnerable.

So, I was expecting Harris to roll right over Pence but he respectfully served it up to her. He wrong footed her at the start by greeting her warmly and saying it was a "privilege" to be sharing the stage with her.

Wow. Trump could never, would never, do that.

At the February, 2018 Winter Olympics, held in South Korea, Mike Pence was seated in the VIP stand one row in front of Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.

Pence would have known by then of the early overtures between Trump and Kim, ahead of their June 2018 summit in Singapore.

So, I was half expecting him to turn around and politely acknowledge her as she sat just a few metres away, but he didn't.

I bet President Mike Pence would have turned around.

So, President Pence, or President Harris, the first female black American president, with a partner who will play well to white, conservative, middle class Americans.

After the Trump circus, take heart that the deputies may come to the rescue, before Trump seals America's decline as a super power, or Biden dozes off trying to do the same thing.

It matters, because the US is our insurance policy against the ambitions of China, Russia, Iran and North Korea.

The huge economy of the US makes trade deals with them so crucial, as our options with crabby, arrogant China remain in limbo.

There's also a treaty called ANZUS, signed during the Korean war in 1951, which requires Australia and the US to come to each other's aid in the event of an attack by a foreign power.

Maybe Trump and Biden haven't heard of this treaty, but they know Australia has always been there for them in conflicts spanning 80 years.

So, bring on President Pence or Harris. Kamala Harris is left wing but far more presentable to both sides of the aisle than the other main

Democrat hopefuls, crazy Bernie Sanders or obsessive socialist warrior Elizabeth Warren.

Harris fervently backs Israel and vocally opposes human rights abuses in China and Russia.

As a Senator in Congress from 2016 she's been a member of critical intelligence, judicial and budget committees and gained much experience as California's Attorney General from 2010

She once said "getting smart on crime does not mean reducing sentences or punishments for crimes".

For conservative voters in swing states, worried about Trump's so-called socialist bogey Democrats, those comments alone would do them just fine on election day.

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