Regarding the chasing the laser pointer, I re-watched the Oz TV show Planet America to find the two quotes I mentioned previously.

Brett Doster, a Republican Political Strategist was interviewed. A couple of quotes from him (which I took down so they are not necessarily word-for-word accurate):

"...Harris was talking policy, then she would have this kind of drive-by attack on Trump to goad him into something about something he is sensitive about so that when it was his turn for rebuttal he was drawn into talking about rally sizes, not about the policy thing'"

Doster also said, "I thought that Harris did get [Trump] sidetracked a number of times ... [ e.g. rally sizes and people staying or leaving] ... Trump does want to chase the shiny objects. She laid some tidbits out for him." He said Trump missed some opportunities and he did need to be a bit stronger with her.

The other person interviewed on the show was Steve Maviglio, a Democratic Political Consultant, who referred to Trump's sweaty upper lip when asked what the social media meme image would be from the debate.