The structure of the vice presidential debate seemed tailor made for an evening about as illuminating and enjoyable as a mud bath. For the first twenty minutes, all three people on the stage seemed so intent on talking at the same time that they might as well not have talked at all.
When they finally settled into something that was vaguely intelligible, Elaine Quijano tossed out questions, but Mike Pence often chose to answer something else entirely, and both candidates continued to interrupt the other so frequently that it was easy to lose track of the subject under discussion.
Mike Pence frequently failed to answer a question, using a standard approach: First give a pointless intro (i.e. “I must say that’s a wonderful question”), Second repeat the question, Third answer something else. Something that generally included saying that Hillary was going to spend $2 trillion. Oh, and you may be shocked to know this, but Hillary had an email server.
Throughout the debate, Pence maintained a half-tired, half-exasperated tone as if he wished he really had a ten-foot pole handy to push Kaine away. He maintained that attitude of disgust and disdain no matter the subject, occasionally punctuated with a dismissive chuckle or an eyeroll. He even tried his hand at a “there you go again.”
Meanwhile, Tim Kaine zigged from being very effective on some issues, to sounding repetitive. (Personally, I’d rather not hear about bin Laden from either Kaine or Clinton again. We know the story. We get it.) And while Kaine was absolutely correct that every time he challenged Pence to defend one of Donald Trump’s positions, Pence simply answered something else, Kaine’s attempts to force him to be honest were ineffective.
In short, Pence leaned heavily on ideas like “strength” and “broad shouldered leadership” without giving any details. Kaine delivered much better details, but often failed to tie them up neatly with a phrase or a closing idea. On some items, like Syria and Ukraine, Pence gave answers that would have been convincing coming from someone who wasn’t connected to Donald Trump.
Perhaps the best moment of the debate came on the abortion issue, which was the closest the evening came to actually seeming like a debate rather than a ragged squabble. Both sides presented their points, and Kaine definitely came off better as he put forward his—and Hillary’s—basic trust in allowing women to make their own decisions about their own lives.
If the debate began and ended with the clock, a visitor from Mars might have been convinced by Pence. However, much of Pence’s night involved denying things that he or Trump said previously. How this spins out will likely depend heavily on how willing the media is to point out Pence’s basic tendency to turn away from the questions asked and from statements Trump has made.