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Republican vice presidential candidate Gov. Mike Pence provided an example for his running mate on Tuesday. If Donald Trump follows it, he could move past Democrat Hillary Clinton in this oddest of presidential campaigns.
Pence proved to be the adult in the room with Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Tim Kaine in the only debate between the two, which was held at Longwood University in Farmville, Va. Calm and articulate, the Indiana governor explained the GOP campaign's plans while fending off the constantly interrupting, seemingly overcaffeinated Virginia senator.
The Democratic campaign's strategy apparently was to fill Kaine with stock one-liners and have him blurt them out, no matter what the topic was, together with tired attack lines on Trump.
Where the American people wanted answers on domestic and foreign policy solutions, they got "Mexican rapists," Trump's income taxes and a reprise of the Obama birther issue.
It may have been an intentional strategy, but it clearly was not a winning strategy for Kaine.
How much of a bounce it will provide for the Trump campaign is unclear since the next presidential debate is Sunday. There, the Republican will need to turn the subject to Clinton and her qualifications for being president. He may have to battle both Clinton and the moderator, as he was forced to do in the first debate, and it may be tougher to do in a town hall format, but that should be his strategy.
The moderator on Tuesday, Elaine Quijano of CBS, lost control of the vice presidential debate early on, was unable to keep the candidates from talking over each other, did not attempt any measure of fairness in follow-up questions and left many issues hanging. It was as poor of a performance as was that of Lester Holt of NBC News, who was roundly panned after asking no tough questions of Clinton in the first debate.
Pence, as Trump must do, answered the moderator's question and, if Kaine didn't interrupt him, pivoted to Clinton's and the Obama administration's many foibles. At various times, he pointed out the former secretary of state's lack of accomplishments as the nation's top diplomat, the administration's checkered economic record, the alleged pay-for-play scheme with the Clinton Foundation, the administration's lack of border security and her insecure email server. Unfortunately, he barely mentioned Obamacare, the president's health care program, which many see as teetering with broken promises and skyrocketing premium costs.
He also was able to suggest several times how a Clinton administration meant more of the same thing Americans haven't enjoyed for the last seven and a half years - more taxes, more regulations, more illegal immigrants, a depleted military and an emboldened Middle East enemy in the Islamic State.
However, Kaine evidently had been told to interrupt where the campaign must believe it is most vulnerable - with the emails and with the Clinton Foundation. Vice President Joe Biden used a similar strategy with Paul Ryan four years ago but was given a pass for just being avuncular with the much younger man. Post-debate analysts unofficially tabbed the number of interruptions by Kaine anywhere from 39 to 72.
Pence also was able to explain to some extent a few of Trump's brash statements, which often say one thing when he means something less bombastic. For instance, he maneuvered statements about how many illegal immigrants Trump said he might deport to the campaign's actual desire to deport criminals, shut down sanctuary cities and secure the Southern border before doing anything about the bulk of illegals already here. And he steered the candidate's statement about banning Muslims to suspending the Syrian refugee program and not bringing in people hostile to the United States.
Meanwhile, Kaine had to justify Clinton's actions and did not come off very well in doing so. A "re-set" with Russian was to be one her first accomplishments as secretary of state, but Russia's annexation of Crimea, invasion of eastern Ukraine and insertion of itself in the Middle East don't seem like a policy heading in the right direction. Similarly, he wanted to give Clinton credit for the death of Osama bin Laden and fewer troops in the Middle East, but the rise of the Islamic State and its occupation of territory in Syria and Iraq don't make the region seem any safer.
So while the vice presidential debate may not move the needle much in presidential polls, Tuesday's event - at least for Trump - provided a pathway and a strategy to gaining the upper hand on Clinton for Sunday.