Jay Inslee prepped for the Democratic debate by drawing himself as a 'smiling alligator, wearing a tie at the podium'

There might be a reason why some say Washington Gov. Jay Inslee's smile is a bit unsettling.

The Democrat is one of the many low-profile 2020 candidates who squeezed his way onto the Democratic debate stage Wednesday night — though he ended up with the least speaking time of any contender up there. Perhaps that's because Inslee might be better off sketching out his climate-change-fighting ideas than speaking them, The Washington Post reports.

Inslee, the self-described "climate candidate" in the 2020 race, spent Wednesday morning "sockless" with his wife and campaign manager as he prepared for that night's NBC News/MSNBC debate, per the Post. He ran through his closing statement. He went on a four-mile walk, and he took a nap. And then, "on personalized stationery he doodled a sketch of himself as a smiling alligator, wearing a tie at a podium, on the debate stage," the Post writes. Only then was Inslee ready for the night.

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But Inslee's toothy drawings didn't stop him from punting on what could've been an easy name drop for his No. 1 issue. When asked about the biggest geopolitical threat to America right now, Inslee answered "Donald Trump," to whooping applause. Four of his competitors then declared it was "climate change."