It is now official. The Republican ticket for 2016 will be Donald Trump and Indiana Governor Michael Pence.
From my blog of two days ago:
Mike Pence is a solidly conservative Republican, whose neanderthal views on social equality have, at least to some extent, seemed to have softened in the last year or two.
From a political perspective, Mike Pence may not be the best pick Trump could make. But he is at least in the ballpark versus Chris Christie (who, all things considered, is probably the best of the three being talked about most frequently) and quantum leaps ahead of Newt Gingrich.
Do I like Mike Pence as a VP candidate? Nope, mainly because I avidly disagree with his social views.
Do I think that his selection makes political sense? Partly.
-On the plus side, Pence will solidify Trump’s credentials with conservatives and probably retrieve some votes that might otherwise have gone to Libertarian Gary Johnson. He is a tax cutter, and has continued predecessor Mitch Daniels’ progress in making Indiana economically strong – a status hardly typical of midwestern “rust belt” states.
-On the minus side, as an evangelical conservative who, based on his votiung record in congress (he was in the House of Representatives for 6 terms) is adamantly against legal same-sex marriage and abortion. Those stands are going to lose some number of independent voters, probably a good many more than it might gain… and let’s keep in mind that indies are the folks who usually decide elections.
While it is true that, in the past couple of years, Pence has made a few rumblings suggesting a more tolerant stance, so far they have been very distant ones.
Bottom line? Michael Pence has positive and negative points, which probably come close to evening out. And, in any event, it is highly unlikely Pence, a seasoned politician with strong knowledge of how things work in DC, can be used by Democrats the way, say, Sarah Palin was.
But regardless of what the Clinton people try to do with Michael Pence, I think it is self-evident that Donald Trump will be so predominant in this race that, barring some unforeseen circumstance, Pence will be little more than an afterthought.
We’ll see…..
There once were two brothers.
One ran away to sea.
The other became Vice President.
Neither was heard from, since.
Does Pence help Trump with the 4 or 5 Evangelical Midwestern states he may have otherwise lost???
Could that be the reason for this pick???
free – I doubt that, because evangelicals are not about to vote for Hillary Clinton regardless of who Trump picks. I think it’s more that he’s a reasonably successful midwestern Governor, and that, for most of the people who would not vote for Trump, the VP pick is irrelevant.
I will accept that. I was just thinking Trump didn’t seem to be overly religious and the blog mentioned Pences’ ties to the Evangelical community. That is why I asked, I wasn’t sure.