Vice Presidential Debate Analysis

The Vice Presidential debate happened last night in case you were watching the American League play-in game. To be honest, it was kind of a mess. I’d say Tim Kaine and Mike Pence spent at least the first 20 or 30 minutes basically talking over each other so that neither could really score any points, largely because Kaine kept on interrupting and the moderator was useless. Pence did as good a job as possible, focusing his attacks on Hillary by tying her to the disastrous situation in Syria and the increased belligerence of Putin. He managed to hit her on the email server and even on the Clinton Foundation. But, when Kaine started quoting  the outrageous statements made by Trump or Pence and asking Pence to defend those comments, Pence either did not answer Kaine or simply denied that they had ever said what Kaine claimed. This will not go over well in the post-debate analysis because the clips will be played showing Trump or Pence saying these things and then Pence denying they had said it. Kaine was relentless in going after Trump’s taxes, his Russian ties and fondness for Putin, and his belief that Saudi Arabia, Japan, and South Korea should get nuclear weapons. All in all, the debate was kind of a wash with perhaps the advantage going to Pence simply because He was smoother and  Kaine was a little over-aggressive. I doubt this debate will have any influence on the broader campaign, because, in the end it’s just the Vice Presidential debate and not many people probably watched or cared.