Kaine vs Pence: Summarizing the Vice Presidential Debates
As Final Presidential Debates Loom, a Summary of the Potential VPs
October 17, 2016
The first presidential debates on September 26th drew roughly 84 million viewers, according to an estimate from the Cable News Network (CNN). The viewers of the second round of debates numbered roughly 66.5 million. In contrast, the debates between vice presidential candidates Mike Pence and Tim Kaine on Tuesday, 10/4, drew perhaps half that number- the same source estimates the number of people tuned in at approximately 40-50 million. While certainly still an impressive figure, the interest in the vice presidential candidates seems paltry compared to the passion many have for the United States’ future president. Now, as next week’s final round of presidential debates loom, here’s some important information on the United States’ potential future vice presidents.
Yet despite their comparatively docile debates, with both Pence and Kaine lacking the flashy nature of the primary candidates, both Hillary and Trump’s running mates had some interesting insights Tuesday night. From what they had to say about each other and their running mates to transcripts of a few of the most interesting pieces of the debates, here’s a quick field map of sorts to what 40 million Americans missed at the vice presidential debates; for a more in depth copy of the debates, a link is provided of the full transcript used.
Before going into the debates themselves, it’s important to know a bit about each of the candidates:
| Mike PENCE | Tim KAINE | |
| Candidate: | Running with Donald Trump | Running with Hillary Clinton |
| Party Affiliation: | Republican | Democrat |
| Previous Experience: |
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| Before politics: | Talk show host, has law degree | Practiced law (has law degree) |
| What they bring to the ticket: | Disciplined and personable, good communicators, helps win over more skeptical and socially conservative Republicans, considered more moderate than Trump | Highly respected, very well qualified and liked, fluent in Spanish and helps connect with Hispanic voters, has the experience and qualifications necessary for vice or true presidency, comparably less liberal than Hillary |
| In the news: | In 2015, signed and then agreed to renegotiate legislation based in “religious freedom,” which would allow business to deny service to the LGBT community | Regularly pushes in his Senate position for authorization to use more force against the Islamic State |
Now, on to the debate itself:
Most memorable quote about the other candidate:
PENCE (on Kaine): “But I think he’s a very fitting running mate for Hillary Clinton, because in the wake of a season where American families are struggling in this economy, under the weight of higher taxes and Obamacare and the war on coal and the stifling avalanche of regulation coming out of this administration, Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine want more of the same”
KAINE (on Pence): “If you want to have a society where people are respected and respect laws, you can’t have somebody at the top who demeans every group that he talks about. And I just — again, I cannot believe that Governor Pence will defend the insult-driven campaign that Donald Trump has run.”
Most memorable quote about their running mate:
KAINE (on Clinton): “I am so proud to be running with another strong history-making woman, Hillary Clinton, to be president of the United States. I’m proud because her vision of stronger together, building an economy that works for all, not just those at the top, being safe in the world, not only with a strong military, but also strong alliances to battle terrorism and climate change, and also to build a community of respect, just like Barbara Johns tried to do 65 years ago. That’s why I’m so proud to be her running mate”
PENCE (on Trump): “Donald Trump has built a business through hard times and through good times. He’s brought an extraordinary business acumen, he’s employed tens of thousands of people in this country.”
Most memorable quote on immigration:
PENCE (On how to deal with immigration): “But Donald Trump has a plan, that he laid out in Arizona, that will deal systematically with illegal immigration, beginning with border security, internal enforcement. It’s probably why for the first time in the history of immigrations and customs enforcement, their union actually endorsed Donald Trump as the next president of the United States, because they know they need help to enforce the laws of this country.”
KAINE (On how to deal with immigration): “Hillary and I want a bipartisan reform that will put keeping families together as the top goal. Second, that will help focus enforcement efforts on those that are violent. Third, that will do more border control, and fourth, that will provide a path to citizenship for those who work hard, pay taxes and play by the rules and take criminal background record checks.”
Most memorable quote on law enforcement:
KAINE (on his and Hillary’s police reformation policy): “We’ll focus on community policing. We will focus on, and Hillary Clinton has rolled out a really comprehensive mental health reform package that she worked on with law enforcement professionals, and we will also fight the scourge of gun violence in the United States. I’m a gun owner. I’m a strong second amendment supporter, but I’ve got a lot of scar tissue, because when I was governor of Virginia, there was a horrible shooting at Virginia Tech, and we learned that through that painful situation that gaps in the background record check system should have been closed and it could have prevented that crime, so we’re going to work to do things like close background record checks”
PENCE (On his and Trump’s police reformation policy): “Donald Trump and I are going to make sure that law enforcement have the resources and the tools to be able to really restore law and order to the cities and communities in this nation. It’s probably, probably why the 330,000 members of the fraternal order of police endorsed Donald Trump as the next president of the United States of America, because they see his commitment to them. They see his commitment to law and order.”
As showcased here, the vice-presidential debates were both heated and informative, providing a full- scope view on the views of both the presidential and vice presidential candidates. To learn more, a full transcript of the debate can be found at the link below, along with a video of the entire debate.