The tiny Virginia town of Farmville, home to Longwood University and
Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate, prides itself as a “Tree City USA” – the benefits of which, we’re told, include “a framework for action, education, a positive image and citizen pride.”
It’s safe to assume that the evening’s two combatants
– Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence – walked onto the
debate stage hoping to achieve those same goals (especially the part
about a positive image).
How’d they do?
Here are five observations.
The Tone. The evening started out on a civil
tone and it stayed that way, for the most – even if one of the debaters
did his best to instill some southern discomfort into the conversation
(more on that in a moment).
Kaine opened the proceedings by praising Hillary
Clinton for her smarts and experience and wanting to build “a community
of respect” (a bow to the civil rights movement). He then took a dig at Donald Trump.
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Pence likewise praised his running mate, but didn’t
neglect to point out that the public is in a wrong-track mood so why
vote for more of the same.
And so it went through the night – each defending, even extolling their running mates’ virtues.
Granted, most any debate without Trump is going to
seem somber. But this one was about as far as you get from an endorphin
rush – nothing resembling Trump-level Fourth of July fireworks. Neither
man raised his voice. Even when one candidate attacked the other
ticket’s greatest weakness – Trump’s temperament, Clinton’s
trustworthiness – it lacked the vitriol evident at the first
presidential debate.
Remember this calm when Clinton and Trump mix it up again, Sunday evening in St. Louis.
Pence. Kaine called his debate foe “Trump’s
apprentice.” Truth is, the Indiana governor is more like Trump’s
antipode . . . for his calm demeanor and steady explanations of policy
and his opponents’ shortcomings.
Pence had a few good lines. For example, this passage
when pushing back against Kaine for his propensity for touting
economic-recovery numbers: “People in Scranton know different. People in
Fort Wayne know different.”
For those expecting an aggressive performance or a
pound of Democratic flesh, Pence didn’t deliver. He was more guide dog
than attack dog – though he almost bared his fangs just past the
one-hour mark, when Kaine kept mentioning Trump’s taxes.
There’s a reason why someone came up with the phrase “Midwest nice.”
Kaine. Asked a question about doubts over his
running mate’s character, he instead berated Trump’s “selfish” persona.
When Pence began to cover the Clinton foreign policy record during her
Foggy Bottom tenure, Kaine butted in – and kept interrupting as the
night went on.
Why the rudeness? A tactical choice to keep the mild-mannered Pence off-stride.
Kaine had his talking points at the ready – too many
of them, as Pence kept noting. Give Kaine demerits for too many slangy
one-liners – a Clinton-Kaine “you’re hired” jobs program, a “you’re
fired” Trump-Pence plan, etc.
And I’d further downgrade Kaine for this blunder: he
went through an entire back-and-forth about immigration without taking
advantage of his fluency in Spanish.
Increible!
Bottom line: a tree doesn’t grow in Kaine-ville. The senator left the positive image in the green room.
Quijano. This debate’s moderator, CBS News’
Elaine Quijano, got a yuuuge break in that she was tasked with
controlling two candidates described by some as vanilla nice.
Quijano asked solid and straightforward questions:
why the presidential nominees are dogged by character questions, how
their economic plans will work, what to do about policing and public
safety, illegal immigration, how to combat home-grown terrorism, and so
forth.
For those of you wagering on the first media-bias
moment, it may have come at the 35-minute mark when Quijano pressed
Pence on South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, a Republican and
African-American, being harassed by Capitol Police – with no pushback against Kaine on Black Lives Matter and violent civil disobedience.
Where I’d further critique Quijano: she also put
Pence on the spot for Trump’s immigration plan. Was it my imagination or
did Pence get most of the questions directed his way?
Though she did ask both candidates their faith, Quijano didn’t press Kaine on abortion,
which may have been a deal-killer for Barack Obama when he was looking
for a running mate in 2008. The topic didn’t come up until 98 minutes
into the 105-minute debate. She also whiffed on pressing Pence over Indiana’s religious-freedom law.
Two debates down, two to go, and I’m still waiting for a tough question hurled the Democrats’ way.
What’s Next. It wasn’t the high road to
Farmville —at least not so for Kaine, whose strategy was to keep his
opponent off-stride and off-message. Rarely did he take a pass on
mentioning Trump’s character and temperament, even when it wasn’t his
turn to talk (the unofficial Fox News count was 39 Kaine interruption to
19 for Pence). And that’s how it may look for the remaining five weeks:
Clinton’s campaign believes it has a lead that Trump can’t overcome.
Look for Hillary to do her best to keep Trump off-balance and out-of-sorts in the remaining two debates.
America’s Civil War came to its conclusion not far from Farmville, at the Appomattox Court House.
In 2016, the uncivil war that is Donald Trump vs.
Hillary Clinton continues with two more clashes – debates on Oct. 9 and
Oct. 19 – before hostilities cease (we hope) on Election Day.
I give Pence the edge on the night – but that’s due
in large part to Kaine’s acting anything but a Virginia gentleman. Had
Pence been more forceful in a few moments and pushed harder on voter
dissatisfaction with the economy and the political class, it would have
been a bigger night.
Tune in Sunday night, October 9, to see if Trump can trump that.