Mike Pence hopes to steady Trump campaign in VP debate against Tim Kaine

WASHINGTON: Hoping to steady Donald Trump’s rocky presidential campaign, running mate Mike Pence will take on Democratic counterpart Tim Kaine Tuesday night in this year’s only vice presidential debate. “The United States of America should be prepared to use military force to strike military targets of the Assad regime.”

Sen. Tim Kaine, the running mate of Democrat Hillary Clinton, raised the issue of Trump’s praise for Putin. The two clashed over immigration, terrorism, policing, Russia, Donald Trump’s taxes, Hillary Clinton’s record as secretary of state, abortion rights and more in the first and only vice presidential debate of the year. A strong performance by Pence was considered crucial for Trump because of his poor showing last week and a series of controversies that followed, including his insults of a Venezuelan American beauty queen, the disclosure of a tax filing that showed Trump may not have paid federal income taxes for two decades and the suspension of his charity foundation this week by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. Look for Pence, who calls Clinton "the most dishonest person ever to seek the presidency," to zero in on lines of attack that Trump hardly touched in the first debate, such as questions about whether Clinton played favorites as secretary of state with donors to the Clinton Foundation. “I can't imagine how Governor Pence can defend the insult-driven, selfish, me-first style of Donald Trump.”

Mr. Pence, the governor of Indiana, calmly shot back: “You would know a lot about an insult-driven campaign,” highlighting Ms. Clinton's relentless criticism of Mr. Trump in recent months.
Democratic Senator Tim Kaine, and the Governor of Indiana Mike Pence hold the first and only vice-presidential debate of the 2016 presidential election at Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia.