By Robyn Forbes
The only vice presidential debate of this year’s election took place last night at Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia and was moderated by CBS News reporter Elaine Quijano. Donald Trump’s choice of vice president, Governor Mike Pence, and Hillary Clinton’s running mate, Senator Tim Kaine, took to the stage for the debate that spanned just over 90 minutes.
A few of the topics discussed during the debate include: presidential leadership, the trustworthiness and reliability of the presidential candidates, the economy, Trump’s tax returns, and Social Security.
Kaine started off the debate with a response that stuck to Clinton’s ‘Stronger Together’ message. Pence came in with an approach similar to that of his running mate Donald Trump, focusing on “an economy stifled by more taxes, more regulation, a war on coal, and a failing health care reform”.
Throughout the debate Kaine threw hard-hitting blows at Pence, quoting some of Trump’s most politically incorrect lines and requesting an explanation for them from Pence. Pence did not to dwell on these or provide any explanation, but rather deflected the statements and chose to move on with the discussion.
At certain points in the debate, it seemed as though Pence was pulling away from his own ticket. One major example was his sudden change of opinion on Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. Earlier on in his campaign, Pence expressed a good opinion of him, even going so far as to say that Putin is a stronger leader than President Barack Obama. However, in last evening’s debate, he described Putin as a small and bullying leader.
Pence responded to Kaine’s quotations by saying that Kaine’s attack held many creative lines.
Kaine spent much of the debate continuously interrupting Pence. Each candidate was allotted two minutes for response to questions, however, Kaine seemed to have no regard for the time limit and repeatedly interjected Pence in order to discredit his claims.
There also appeared to be some bias from the moderator, Elaine Quijano, who found it necessary to remind Pence that it was Kaine’s turn to speak when he interjected, however, she hardly did so when the situation was reversed.
By the end of the debate, it appeared Pence and Kaine each possess levels of composure very different than their respective running mates. Where Clinton was more controlled and composed in the presidential debate, Kaine was not so well controlled. Where Trump was flustered and his composure unraveled, Pence typically managed to keep his composure.
