Both Harris and Pence blew past the most important question of the debate

It was the most important question of the night, and both Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) whiffed on it.

At Wednesday night's vice presidential debate, moderator Susan Page asked both candidates if they had talked with their running mates — President Trump in Pence's case; former Vice President Joe Biden in Harris' — about the possibility of transferring executive power in the case of presidential disability. It's a pertinent question: As Page noted, both Trump and Biden are well into their 70s, an age when most Americans are retired instead of stepping into or continuing one of the most demanding jobs in the world.

Pence talked about vaccine development. Harris offered an overview of her resume. Neither answered the question.

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That should be alarming. The events of the last week — when Trump was hospitalized, put on supplemental oxygen, and then treated with powerful drugs — have highlighted the importance of having clear lines of responsibility when a president is sidelined by health problems. Trump tends to be hyperbolic and erratic even on the best of days, but there are real questions about whether his behavior since being hospitalized might be the result of, say, the steroid treatments he has received. As shocking as it is to say, Americans can't be entirely confident the president is in his right mind.

The Constitution's 25th Amendment is supposed to guide decision-making in such matters. But until it is actually put into practice, voters can't really know if it works or not. Pence and Harris had an opportunity — a duty, even — to provide clarity on Wednesday. They decided not to.