I’m enjoying it. Kaine is growing on me. I like the part where he was talking about dangerous maniacs getting control of nuclear warheads, then said Trump would be one of them. Pence keeps telling us how offended he is, and how the Clinton campaign is the one that is based on insults. I’m waiting for him to call Clinton a SJW.
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Perfect. 
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“Senator, you whipped out that Mexican thing again.” This is comedy gold.
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One good thing about this debate is that more people will start to notice more to what a chronically evil zealot Pence is, though that’s also the bad thing.
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Watched the whole thing.
I’m giving this one to Pence. Not on facts or argument, but on his delivery. Kaine’s eyes were either on his papers, Pence, or the moderator. Pence’s eyes were on all three of these, but also the camera. Along with staying low-key and folksy, he made more of an effort to reach out to the viewer.
Kaine delivered on facts and substance, but I don’t feel that will prove nearly as persuasive as style to the undecided voter. These people are looking for a sense of assurance and confidence in their country and its future and Pence did a better job of conveying that, regardless of the veracity of his statements.
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I hate to like this… but it’s a sound analysis, and I’m not sure you’re wrong.
Eta: I prefer substance over style myself, but I’m not undecided or unbiased.
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Only the polls can really say who ‘won’. I don’t mean the post-debate online ones but the ongoing polls tracking favorability towards each of the major candidates. And we won’t see conclusive numbers for at least four or five days from now.
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I agree that Kaine’s delivery was probably too agressive, but on substance Pence was nowhere. I think the soundbites will favor the Democrats.
It might not be a fair criticism, but I think the moderator didn’t do a very good job.
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She was marginally better than Lester Holt in the first debate… but not by much. I’d so love to see a moderator force the issue by turning off both mikes until the candidates behave themselves.
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Kaine relied heavily on soundbites, to the point that they sometimes came across as non sequiturs. And yeah, Pence was a featherweight on substance but again, I feel like Kaine brought facts to a style fight.
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Agreed. Pence did a good job of looking quietly, sadly pained and then calmly saying “no. Not true. Bla bla bla,” as he looked into the camera and said something that was, nearly always, utter bullshit, but stated solidly and forcefully and confidently. Whereas Pence had that little “I’m gonna getcha!” smile going on with his raised eyebrow.
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The good news is it pretty much doesn’t matter who “won”:
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‘Quietly, sadly pained’. Perfect, concise summary.
I’ll give Kaine this, though: that guy was the opposite of timid in addressing reproductive rights.
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I loved Kaine’s response on that issue. And his comeback to Pence: “why don’t you trust women to make their own decisions for their lives?” Which, of course, Pence had no answer for.
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For how sensitive an issue that was—especially since Kaine is Catholic—he handled it like a master. By prefacing his comments with an observation on the difference between personal morality and oath of office, he simultaneously set up an implicit defense and left open the opportunity to go after Pence on his anti-LGBT measures as governor.
Those were three of his strongest minutes. I wished I’d seen more of him like that.
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Well summarized. It was awful.
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Kaine missed the opportunity to go after Trump where it matters - to attack his business acumen, his prized possession. Successful businessmen don’t lose a billion dollars. They just don’t. That’s what the $918 loss should be - look what he lost of his own money - what would he do with the governments?
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