The Trump Veepwatch, Vol. 8: How Mike Pence became Trump’s smartest veep pick
Name: Michael Richard Pence
Age: 57
Resume: Governor of Indiana, former member of the U.S. House of Representatives
Source of speculation:Pretty much every veep-related move that Donald Trump has made in recent days.
Pence’s name has been bandied about for a while now, but the veepstakes handicappers never really considered him a top-tier contender. That changed when Trump invited the Indiana governor and his wife, Karen, to hang out at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J., over the July 4 weekend.
The meeting lasted more than an hour. One Republican told the Washington Post that it was “warm and friendly”; another called it a “getting to know you thing” and “a chance for both of them to connect.” According to the Post’s Robert Costa, both sources “noted that the presence of Karen Pence is probably a sign that the Pence family is comfortable with the prospect of the Republican governor joining the ticket.” One of Pence’s daughters was also in attendance, as was Melania Trump.
Afterwards, Pence told the Indiana press corps that he and Trump played a round of golf together — he “beat me like a drum,” Pence reported — and that while “nothing was offered” and “nothing was accepted,” the session was nonetheless ”very enjoyable.”
“We talked about our country, we talked about the progress we’ve made in Indiana,” Pence added.
Trump, for his part, was equally positive about Pence. “Spent time with Indiana Governor Mike Pence and family yesterday,” the mogul said on (where else?) Twitter. ”Very impressed, great people!”
The press pounced. Pence was propelled into the upper echelon of possible Trump running mates. “Wise Hoosiers” began whispering to reporters that Pence was “hungry” for the job. Then things got even more interesting.
At a campaign stop in Franklin, Ind., last Thursday — Pence is currently running for another term as governor — the Hoosier revealed that he was being formally vetted for the gig.
“Our team has made an effort to be supportive of the process they are going through, I believe with a number of leaders around the country,” Pence explained. “I’m excited about the opportunity we have in the state of Indiana and across this country to take a new direction.”
Around the same time, Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker told Politico that he had discussed names of potential running mates with Trump and that he expected the candidate toannounce his pick by July 15, just three days before the start of the Republican National Convention, in Cleveland.
Why does that timing matter? Because under Indiana law, Pence is prohibited from running for VP and governor simultaneously — and the deadline for him to pick one or the other is (you guessed it) July 15.
Oh, and Pence is also scheduled to host a Trump fundraiser Tuesday at the Columbia Club in Downtown Indianapolis — right before appearing alongside The Donald at a local rally later that evening.
Coincidence? Perhaps not.
Backstory:These days, Pence sounds pretty excited about the possibility of President Trump.
“It’s important we come together around our nominee,” he said last week. “And that we stand behind an individual who is going to stand by our military, stand by our veterans at home. He’s going to get this economy moving again to its full potential.”
But he wasn’t always so gung ho. Shortly before the May 3 Indiana primary, Trump sidekick Chris Christie arranged a meeting between Pence and the real-estate tycoon at the governor’s residence. The goal was to keep Pence neutral. But Pence didn’t cooperate and soon endorsed Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, praising his “knowledge of the Constitution” and his willingness to “take on the leadership” of his own party.
Later, Pence criticized Trump’s remarks about Gonzalo Curiel, the Indiana-born judge overseeing the Trump University fraud case.
“Of course I think those comments were inappropriate,” Pence said after an unrelated event at the Statehouse. “I don’t think it’s ever appropriate to question the partiality of the judge based on their ethnic background.”
So what’s changed?
For one thing, certain members of Team Trump have taken to pushing Pence, internally, as an alternative to early VP frontrunners Christie (who has lots of baggage) and Newt Gingrich (who’s kind of a loose cannon). Kellyanne Conway, a longtime pollster for the Indiana governor, “began pitching Pence as a vice presidential pick to Trump’s team as soon as Ted Cruz withdrew from the race,” according to CNN. (Conway joined the Trump campaign as a senior adviser earlier this month.) Meanwhile, a Trump source recently told NBC News that campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who is running the veep search, may not be enthusiastic about Newt because he “cannot control a Gingrich, whereas he can control a Pence.”
Their arguments seemed to have worked — hence the holiday invite to New Jersey. And when two other late bloomers took themselves out of the running early last week — Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker and Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst, both of whom also met with Trump on or around Independence Day — Pence’s stock only rose further. In a certain sense, he’s the last (non-Newt, non-Christie) man standing.
As for Pence, the more interest Trump has shown in him, the more interested he’s become in the gig. After sparking national controversies by proposing a state-run, taxpayer-funded news service and signing a “religious freedom” bill that would have permitted discrimination against LGBT individuals, Pence isn’t especially popular in Indiana, and his reelection effort pits him against an opponent, Democrat John Gregg, whom he defeated by only three percentage points in 2012. It’s possible that Pence could lose the rematch — which may be why several sources who have spoken to him or been briefed on his meeting with Trump told CNN last week that “Pence would accept the vice presidential nomination if he’s asked.”
Odds: High.
In some ways, Trump and Pence are an odd couple. Pence is fluent in the language of movement conservatism; Trump isn’t even conservative. Pence is a devout evangelical Christian who has spent his entire career fighting in the culture wars; Trump, who once cited “Two Corinthians” 3:17 as a favorite bible verse, is the most gay-friendly GOP nominee ever. Trump says whatever pops into his head at any given moment; Pence is known for his unflappable message discipline. Trump thinks that “campaigning” and “negative campaigning” are the same thing; Pence wrote more than two decades ago that “a campaign ought to demonstrate the basic human decency of the candidate” and has avoided political vitriol ever since. Et cetera.
Yet none of this has dissuaded Trump from vetting Pence. Nor has it dissuaded Pence from agreeing to be vetted. That’s likely because both men have realized that the very things that make Pence so unlike Trump may also make him Trump’s best remaining option for VP.
Pence isn’t a perfect pick. As Costa notes, “Working against Pence are questions in national political circles about whether he could successfully navigate the barrage of media attention and scrutiny that would come with being at Trump’s side, and whether he could successfully communicate his strident social conservatism to a fast-changing country.” Pence famously wilted under dogged questioning from ABC’s George Stephanopoulos about his support for Indiana’s “religious freedom” law.
At this point, however, Trump may not have anyone more suitable to turn to.
The last thing Trump needs, for instance, is another attack dog or ideological apostate on the ticket; he’s got both of those bases covered. Instead, with a convention revolt brewing and right-wing turnout threatening to plummet in November, a guy who can reassure conservatives on Trump’s behalf — both evangelical and otherwise — is probably going to prove more useful.
Then there’s geography to consider. Indiana voted for Barack Obama in 2008 and could conceivably swing back to Hillary Clinton; Pence could help Trump lock it down. At the same time, Pence’s boosters believe his influence could extend even further, citing Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa and Pennsylvania as possible pickups.
“When Hillary Clinton promised to put the coal industry out of work in West Virginia, her shocking comment reverberated westward, across at least six or seven states,” Kellyanne Conway recently told NBC News. “Pence could help [by] picking up one, two, three points right through the Midwestern states, where Romney bombed spectacularly.” (Coal mining remains a major part of southern Indiana’s economy.)
Finally, Trump has said again and again that he wants a partner who can help him ”with legislation” and “getting things through” Washington — an established politician who has “been vetted over the last 20 years.” Pence fits the bill. Before running for governor in 2012, Pence served for 12 years in the House, ascending to the No. 4 spot in the GOP leadership.
“I’d be dancing in the aisles,” Rep. John Carter of Texas told the Hill on Sunday. “He’s one of the best we’ve ever had in Congress. I’d love to see Mike Pence be the guy. It’d be awesome.”
Now we just have to wait and see if Trump agrees. We should know by Friday.
