College Democrats at IU came together with IU debate team director Brian DeLong Wednesday night to talk about strategies used by the candidates in Tuesday’s vice presidential debate.
Organization president Terry Tossman said they scheduled the discussion to draw attention to the often-overlooked running mates, Republican Mike Pence and Democrat Tim Kaine.
“They’re the number twos, and if anything happens, these people take control right away,” Tossman said.
DeLong said he thinks both Kaine and Pence were successful during the debate, meaning neither had a performance poor enough to hurt their primary candidates in the polls.
“Win or lose, the role of both candidates was to avoid becoming a net negative,” DeLong said.
For the 60 percent of Americans who could not identify both vice presidential candidates before Tuesday, the debate had a basic job, DeLong said. It simply encouraged people to Google the candidates to find out who they are.
Less people turned into this debate than ones in 2012 and 2008, DeLong said. He said he thinks this is because people had other tasks they would rather be doing than watching two candidates he described as “watered-down vanilla ice cream.”
DeLong said those who did watch played a valuable role in determining the winner. During debates, the way viewers perceive what the candidates say can affect who comes out ahead. This can help turn the discussion to valid points across the board.
“We should have multiple eyes on the ball to make sure our elected representatives are held accountable for what they’re saying or not saying,” DeLong said.
Personally, DeLong said he could see the benefits and drawbacks of both men’s strategies. Kaine might have come off slightly aggressive, but he did his job and defended Hillary Clinton well, DeLong said. Despite what commentators say, Tossman said he does not believe Kaine came off as overly aggressive. Instead, he saw Kaine’s performance as strong continuation in pushing the Clinton campaign.
“If something were to happen to Hillary Clinton, I feel very comfortable (with Kaine),” Tossman said.
DeLong also said forwardness worked in Kaine’s favor for post-debate analysis. Since he often interrupted Pence, there are few soundbites that analysts want to use to dissect Kaine’s performance.
This means much of the attention has turned to Pence, whose calmness backfired, DeLong said. His strategy made him come off as an old-school candidate who is not focusing on the younger generations.
DeLong said Pence’s quietness especially hurt him when he didn’t defend Trump. Pence claims that Trump can’t help what he says because he is not a refined politician. However, this is actually harmful, because Clinton’s campaign focuses on proving this very point.
“If that is going to be your best response for reasons why these quotes are coming out, that is just devastating,” DeLong said.
Pence seemed to wear down during the debate, Tossman said. Because he was constantly confronted by facts he did not address, he could not hold his ground.
“If the number two guy won’t support the number one, then why should anybody else?” Tossman said.
He said Pence has always been more about helping himself more than the people in his position as government, and the debate was no different. The performance came off as if Pence were the one running for president.
DeLong said Pence may have approached the debate like he was pitching his own campaign to run for 2020, but with Trump next to him, there is little Pence can do to save his reputation now.
“He is standing next to a dumpster fire that he is never going to get off of him,” DeLong said.
