Tim Kaine and Mike Pence clashed over immigration during Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate, with Kaine saying Hillary Clinton wants to see “comprehensive immigration reform”, while Donald Trump believes in a “deportation nation”.
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Here’s where the two candidates stand on the issue. Clinton will be in Pennsylvania and Trump will be in Colorado. In a similar check on 26 of Pence’s statements, PolitiFact said 58 percent of his statements met that standard.
But tonight’s debate isn’t about them. Political experts see the debate as an opportunity for the IN governor to speak directly to American voters, helping to stem some of the bleeding of the past week.
Trump also mocked Clinton for losing her balance last month when she was ill with pneumonia and said America needs a president with more stamina.
In a post that was hastily taken down, the Republican Party’s official website mistakenly announced that “Americans from all over the country tuned in”.to a debate that hadn’t even started yet.
According to an ABC News/SSRS poll, 41% of respondents couldn’t correctly name Pence as the GOP vice-presidential nominee, and 46% couldn’t identify Tim Kaine as Hillary Clinton’s running mate (although it’s important to note that the sample size is quite small: 245). “He has a very fine line to walk”. He is reeling from a tumultuous performance in his first debate with Clinton last week, his attacks on a Latina beauty queen, his hostile 3 a.m. outbursts on social media and new revelations about his taxes.
“Might be a turning point for the election”, said Delaet in reference to the debate.
Kaine and Pence agreed on the success of community policing- a system of understand between neighborhoods and police – as a way to reduce violence. With Trump’s bombast and unpredictability, Pence is the exact opposite.
The Indiana governor and former 12-year congressman held mock debate sessions with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker as a stand-in, studying up on issues likely to be raised and making sure he avoids the criticisms of being unprepared that dogged Trump after his uneven performance a week ago.
Pence, Trump’s running mate, is taking a decidedly un-Trump like approach to the vice presidential debate. “Trump is still playing defense on his taxes and Clinton is clearly ahead in the polls”. Instead the 90-minute debate was mostly memorable for discussions about Trump – his business record, his taxes, his treatment of women and his birther crusade. He’s tried to serve as a validator of Clinton’s character, eager to offset the questions many Americans have about her honesty and trustworthiness.
Both men, vying to be a heartbeat away from the presidency, will seek to introduce themselves to viewers mostly unaware of their own successful, yet under-the-radar political careers.
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Pence tried to flip the tables by accusing Kaine’s running mate of stoking Russia’s belligerence. When Trump waffled over endorsing House Speaker Paul Ryan in his August primary, Pence weighed in with a solid vote of confidence in his former congressional colleague. Kaine again criticized Trump for some of his hardline rhetoric on deportations and proposal to ban Muslims from coming into the U.S. Pence claimed Trump hasn’t praised Putin (he has), argued that Putin would respect a Trump administration because of its “strength, plain and simple, ‘ and criticized Clinton for the failed reset of Russian relations while she was secretary of state”.
