David Drucker of the Washington Examiner contends that Indiana Gov. Mike Pence’s performance in the vice presidential debate offers a stark contrast between the potential VP and his Republican running mate.
Mike Pence on Tuesday offered the Republican Party a glimmer of what 2016 might have looked like had they nominated a conventional candidate to face Hillary Clinton.
The Indiana governor, in his only vice presidential debate, was everything Donald Trump was not in the first debate with Hillary Clinton and generally has not been on the campaign trail since the general election began: calm and in command; courteous but firm. Trump’s thin-skinned bombast and unorthodox style were a hit in the GOP primary, but are why he trails a flawed Democrat with five weeks to go.
Trump still has time to turn things around, beginning Sunday evening in St. Louis, when he and Clinton meet for their second debate, this one in town hall style. But if Trump wasn’t under enough pressure to improve over his disastrous first faceoff, Pence’s sterling performance against Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine only ups the anty.
Falling short of the standard Pence has set for debating just a few days after Republican voters saw what was possible could leave them dispirited — especially those rank-and-file who are not part of Trump’s base but have come around to him reluctantly out of party loyalty or dislike of Clinton.
