NEWS AND OPINION:

The presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump of course received much media coverage. Headlines have emerged in the aftermath, of course.

“The debate between Harris and Trump wasn’t close” (NPR); “Should Republicans wet the bed over the debate?” (HotAir.com); “Trump, Harris traded barbs in fiery debate” (The Wall Street Journal); “Trump says Harris debate was ‘rigged,’ ABC should lose license, but ‘we did great’”(CNBC); “Who won Kamala Harris and Donald Trump’s first debate?” (The Guardian); “Undecided voters not convinced by Harris after debate” (Reuters); “Trump-Harris debate confirmed what we know: He’s combative, she’s dishonest” (New York Post); “ABC’s David Muir spent the night fact-checking Trump” (Newsmax.com).

News organizations also noted the handshake between Ms. Harris and Mr. Trump as their debate began. But there were more handshake headlines to follow.

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The press took notice of a brief and telling moment that occurred long after the debate ended. Mr. Trump and Ms. Harris shook hands — cordially — when they both appeared at a 9/11 commemoration service at ground zero in Manhattan on Wednesday. ABC, CNN, NBC, The New York Times, The Guardian and other news organizations even offered videos of the spontaneous event, which was brief but interesting.

A REPUBLICAN REACTION

In the meantime, the National Republican Congressional Committee is not particularly pleased with the aforementioned debate, and has crafted a letter of complaint to send to ABC, the host network. Indeed, the committee issued the letter on Wednesday — complete with a fundraising pitch — of interest to viewers who were annoyed with the debate itself.

“Dear ABC News: I am writing today to express my deep and profound outrage at the disgraceful debate your network hosted,” the complaint said.

“Your moderators were biased, vicious, and completely unfair. They let Kamala lie nonstop, but constantly ‘fact-checked’ President Trump. It was ELECTION INTERFERENCE. Plain and simple,” the letter said, capital letters and all.

“I am demanding that you take action to discipline your biased hosts,” it continued.   

The letter ends like this:

“The real debate will be on November 5th, and there is no amount of bias that can stop America from reelecting President Trump in a landslide! Sincerely, Your Former Customer.”

Find the committee at https://www.nrcc.org/.

IVY-COVERED HALLS

“More than 430 Harvard University faculty joined the newly-founded Harvard Faculty for Israel, which aims to support Israeli students on campus and advocate for closer collaboration between Harvard and Israeli universities,” according to the Harvard Crimson, a student-written news organization on campus.

“Its founders — Harvard Medical School professor Matthew L. Meyerson ’85 and Harvard Law School professor Jesse M. Fried ’85 — say those goals have become more urgent for Israeli students who feel isolated as concerns of antisemitism rise and their peers protest Israel’s actions in Gaza,” the Crimson said.

The group is made up of members from all nine of Harvard’s faculties. Many hold appointments at Harvard Medical School, which has more than 12,000 faculty members.

Three members of Harvard’s presidential task force on combating antisemitism — the aforementioned Mr. Fried, computer science professor Boaz Barak and Harvard Medical School professor Jerome E. Groopman — also have joined the group.

HOLA, SENOR GARVEY

California U.S. Senate candidate Steve Garvey’s campaign is going, well, grande in its outreach to Hispanic communities in the Golden State. The campaign plans to spend $5 million on television, radio and digital outreach on 40 Spanish-language stations across California.

“This all-in Latino community strategy is unprecedented in statewide campaigns in California, by either Democratic or Republican candidates,” the campaign said in a statement shared with Inside the Beltway.

Digital and radio ads started Wednesday, TV outreach begins later this month. In addition, 8 million pieces of mail will soon blanket Latino communities, the campaign said.

“With this unprecedented, all-in Latino community strategy, we’re bringing Steve Garvey’s message of consensus building, compassion, and common sense directly to Latino communities across California,” said Garvey campaign spokesman Matt Shupe in a written statement shared with Inside the Beltway.

SCIENCE CORNER

While political turmoil continues, here’s some news of note:

“Researchers from the University of Kansas have published findings in the journal Ichthyology & Herpetology describing a new species of fanged frog, named Limnonectes cassiopeia, from the Philippine island of Luzon,” a new report from the university said.

“Surprisingly, specimens of the new species have been collected a dozen times over the last 20 years, but all were mistakenly thought to be the juvenile version of the well-known, nearly identical (but not too closely related, it turns out) Luzon Giant Fanged Frog,” the report said.

“They’re called that because the males of some species have large, bony protuberances, like fangs, in their lower jaw — it’s pretty unique,” said lead author Mark Herr, a doctoral student at the university’s Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum.

“It’s still a bit of a mystery, but it’s become generally assumed that these fangs are used for male-to-male combat. The males’ fangs are much larger than the females’. These males have big heads, and a lot of these frogs can be huge — some as large as chickens elsewhere in Southeast Asia,” Mr. Herr said.

POLL DU JOUR

• 45% of U.S. adults say they are worse off now than they were a year ago.

• 60% of Republicans, 51% of independents and 25% of Democrats agree.

• 41% of men and 48% of women also agree.

• 39% say they are about the same financially now as they were a year ago.

• 32% of Republicans, 34% of independents and 50% of Democrats agree.

• 42% of men and 35% of women also agree.

• 14% overall say they are better off now than a year ago.

• 6% of Republicans, 10% of independents and 23% of Democrats agree.

• 14% of men and 13% of women also agree.

• 3% are not sure about the issue.

• 2% of Republicans, 5% of independents and 3% of Democrats agree.

• 3% of men and 4% of women also agree.

Source: An Economist/YouGov poll of 1,626 U.S. adults conducted online Sept. 8-10 and released Wednesday.

• Follow Jennifer Harper on X @HarperBulletin, on Facebook @HarperUniverse.