Ptomaine Trump

Tonight Trump threw tainted red meat to his ravenous base.  He will put Hillary in jail, Bill does the terrible sexual things that Trump only talks about, Benghazi, and e-mails.  He was much better than in the first debate, which is like saying there were only a few cases of food poisoning.

He aggressively stalked Hillary all over the stage, but had little to show for it.  While his base was busily devouring his every word, undecided voters were looking to see what else was on the menu.

Nothing he said reassured suburban women.  Conservatives nibbling on the Pence fantasy, put down their forks when the VP nominee became roadkill.   Pence was not only wrong on Syria, Trump did not consider him worth consulting.

Hillary was calmer, more presidential.  She won on substance and on style.  Trump was unappetizing to a majority of the electorate before and after the debate.

Needle in Neutral

The debate went much as I predicted in my prior post.  Pence was dollars ahead on style.  His talk show experience was evident.  On that front Kaine was worse than I expected.  His stock in trade is likability.  As a good soldier he aggressively charged forward in a way that some, such as Biden, can bring off, but not Kaine. He was ill served by the campaign.

Not unexpectedly, even with a CNN poll that had more Democratic respondents, Pence won 48 to 42.  But Kaine, who lost the battle, may yet win the war.  Pence was calm and presidential.   Many in the GOP may take some solace about the bottom of their ticket, and even envision him as a future nominee.  Pence helped Pence.

Pence was not a good soldier.  He was too busy bucking for a promotion.  He did little to defend Trump.  Denying he or Trump made various statements, helped sweeten his night, but will sour the day.  He lied.  Every crazy statement Kaine attributed to Trump was true and verifiable.  Pence's hawkish foreign policy positions were inconsistent with the belligerent dove, at the top of the ticket.

Pence won the night on style points, Kaine will edge him tomorrow on truth and substance.  The result will be no change, which is good for Hillary.

Bottoms Up

Tonight Mike Pence has key superficial advantages.  He is better looking, has a more sonorous voice, and based on years as a talk show host, a smoother delivery.  But he is at a substantive disadvantage.  The top of the ticket, who he must defend, is a bottom feeder.

Kaine is likable, and has less ground to defend.  At the end of the night, I doubt the needle will move.

He Needs No Introduction

Actually as someone relatively unknown to the American people, Pence could have used an introduction.  Trump just isn't that kind of guy.

Trump signaled his attitude symbolically with the Rolling Stones lyrics ringing in our ears,  "You can't always get what you want, but if you try real hard,... you get what you need."  Trump needs party unity, and to reassure his base.  He needs Pence's ties to the Koch brothers and other major donors.  But he wanted Christie.

The so-called introduction was the usual litany of Trump praising Trump.  For Trump, looks matter.  He let us know Pence is handsome.   Than he sleepily read some statistics about Indiana.  I doubt many will be excited that this out of step hyper conservative has stepped onto the ticket.  Trump isn't.

Sus-Pence

Having alienated the rising stars in his party, Trump's VP choice is down to  two gas giants and a planet barely known to the general public.  The toxic atmospherics of the gas giants, Christy and Gingrich make them among the least popular politicians in the country.  He can either have the all adulterer ticket, or the all bluster pairing.

His best option may be to venture into the publicly unknown, blandly seasoned, Pence.  But Will Robinson, danger lurks.  A well funded Hillary is prepared to fill in the blanks.  After the debacle of the General Flynn introduction, does the Trump campaign have the capital and the competence to define his running mate?