Pence Passes First Veep Test

CLEVELAND — To a public that barely knows him, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence passed his first major test as Donald Trump’s newly anointed running mate Wednesday.

Pence accepted the Republican nomination for vice president, delivering a speech laced with sharp lines, crisply delivered. It helped that he spoke to a convention hall that was fuller and more boisterous than it has been all week. Several times, delegates interrupted his address with chants of “We like Mike,” and “USA! USA!”

“The presidency of Barack Obama ends exactly six months from today.”

His loudest applause line from the Republican audience came by way of a simple observation: “The presidency of Barack Obama ends exactly six months from today.”

Pence’s speech capped an awkward moment that saw delegates boo Sen. Ted Cruz after delivering a speech in which he refused to explicitly endorse Trump, telling viewers to “vote your conscience” in November. Trump made an appearance on the floor of the Quicken Loans Arena, upstaging Cruz.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich later tried to undo the damage, telling the convention that Cruz’s conscience line had been misunderstood. He told the delegates that there is only once choice for a voter of conscience — Trump.

Pence himself alluded Trump’s unannounced appearance during Cruz’s speech.

“Now, I grant you, he can be a little rough with politicians on the stage,” he said. “And I bet we see that again.”

[lz_third_party includes=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czCO5NR9BuE”]

When Trump tapped Pence to be his running mate last week, the decision generally drew positive reviews from conservative activists familiar with the governor’s record in Indiana and in Congress. But Pence is an unknown quantity to most Americans, making the nationally televised speech his one shot to make a good first impression.

He mixed personal anecdotes, a dollop of self-deprecation, praise for Trump, and attacks on presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in an address that clocked in at just under 40 minutes.

Pence contrasted his low-key demeanor with Trump’s larger-than-life personality.

“I guess he was just looking for some balance on the ticket,” he said.

At another point, he said, “For those of you who don’t know me — which is most of you — I grew up on the front line of the American dream.”

[lz_graphiq id=3RJd2naese1]

Pence talked about his humble upbringing, his deep Christian faith, and his love for his mother, wife, and children. He listed John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. as his political heroes growing up. He touted his record as governor: balanced budgets, lower taxes, a $2 billion surplus, and private sector job growth at the same time that the state government payroll has shrunk.

“That’s what you can do with commonsense conservative leadership,” he said.

Pence argued that Trump would do the same for America.

“Donald Trump gets it. He’s genuine article. He’s a doer in a game normally reserved for talkers,” he said. “He’s his own man. Distinctly American.”

Pence promised to bring his Hoosier stick-to-itiveness to the ticket.

“We play to win,” he said. “That’s why I jointed this campaign in a heartbeat. You have nominated a man who never gives up … And on Nov. 8, I know, we will elect Donald Trump to be the 45th president of the United States.”

At the same time, Pence showed off a willingness and talent to play the traditional running-mate role of attack dog. He urged viewers to “resolve that Hillary Clinton will never become the president of the United States.” He added that Americans are tired of hearing from Clinton and Obama that the county is as good as it can be.

“They tell us this economy is the best that we can do,” he said. “It’s nowhere near the best that we can do. It’s just the best that they can do.”

[lz_related_box id=”174687″]

Beyond the economy, Pence characterized the campaign as a high-stakes battle for the future. Electing Clinton would not just mean ceding power to the Democrats for another four years, he said, but surrendering control of the Supreme Court for the next 40.

Pence said Trump is an outsider who “turned a long-shot campaign into a movement.” He added that it is almost as if the Democrats set out to nominate the polar opposite.

“On that score, you’ve got to hand it to the Democratic Establishment,” he said. “They outdid themselves this time.”

Pence painted Trump as a unique antidote to the playbook Democrats have been running against Republicans for years.

“This won’t be Americans’ first glimpse of the Clinton machine in action, as Bernie Sanders can attest,” he said. “And this time, she’ll have the media doing half of the work for her. The good news is — it won’t be nearly enough.”