With just 2 days remaining in the 2016 presidential election, it is crunch time for the campaigns especially in key battleground states like Virginia. Given Sen. Tim Kaine’s long political history in Virginia, he is presumably Clinton’s best surrogate to appeal to Virginians. Therefore, Kaine’s rhetorical objective in his final appeal to Virginians will be to shift a small but necessary number of voters to secure Clinton’s victory.

Election eve

As reported by the Richmond Time-Dispatch, Sen. Tim Kaine will hold a final rally in Richmond on November 7, the night before the election. The Clinton campaign explained that “he will urge Virginians to make history on Tuesday by electing Hillary Clinton president and embracing an America that is stronger together.”

Virginia up for grabs

At Monday’s rally, Kaine will make his final appeal and must make it clear why Hillary Clinton should be elected president. Even if he is only able to convince a small percentage of Virginians, that could make the difference in preventing a Trump victory, as it has been widely reported that Virginia is a must-win state for the Trump campaign.

Kaine’s last push

As mentioned previously, Sen. Tim Kaine does hold a great deal of political capital in Virginia. He is a former Virginia governor, former Richmond mayor, and current Virginia senator; however, Clinton’s lead in Virginia has been diminishing in the past few days. On Monday, Kaine should push detailed policy proposals aside and focus on Clinton as a candidate compared to Trump. He must make comparisons of character and trust to appeal to any remaining undecided or persuadable voters. Although it is a scare tactic, he should make use of similar rhetoric used in Clinton’s “daisy ad.” As this point in the campaign, Kaine and the Clinton campaign must resort to strategies of that sort to decidedly beat Trump.

Tim Kaine photo retrieved from: The New York Times

Late Thursday night, the plane carrying Republican vice presidential nominee Mike Pence skidded off the runway at New York’s LaGuardia Airport. Although there were no injuries, it is hard not to make the comparison between Pence’s plane and the Trump campaign. In the final days of the election, Gov. Pence needs to make full use of challenger strategies to even have a chance at derailing the Clinton campaign.

Yet Another October Surprise

Further, Gov. Mike Pence’s role will also focus on reinforcing the Trump campaign’s traditional Republican stances concerning the economy, taxes, and social issues, as well as emphasizing Hillary Clinton’s untrustworthiness as a bigger issue than Trump’s perceived instability. Fortunately for the Trump campaign, the FBI’s uncovering of new emails possibly related to Clinton’s use of a private email server while serving as secretary of state will greatly help Pence’s appeal that she is untrustworthy and thus unfit to be president. After the news concerning the Clinton investigation broke, Pence tweeted that he and Donald Trump commend the FBI’s commitment to fully investigate any wrongdoings by Clinton. He later called for the FBI to give the American people the information they deserve since the election is only 11 days away and early voting has already begun.

We call on the FBI to immediately release all emails pertinent to their investigation. Americans have the right to know before Election Day.

— Mike Pence (@mike_pence) October 28, 2016

Vote Trump (Please)

In all, Pence needs to make clear his case as to why Donald Trump is the better option while also emphasizing optimism for the future in the face of the tumultuous and mudslinging nature of this election. He needs to adopt this kind of rhetoric to encourage voter turnout. Although this does conflict with Trump’s claims of election rigging, Pence needs to legitimize the American political system despite his running mate’s statements about the media’s liberal bias resulting in Clinton’s inherent election advantage (though Trump has been given significant media exposure throughout his campaign).

Sen. Tim Kaine has been dubbed America’s dad by the cast of SNL, as he is the stereotypical middle-aged, white, suburban man. He is also a man of faith and has no problem expressing that… even in Spanish. This allows him to use faith-focused rhetoric that reinforces the notion that people and voters are often driven by values.

Mr. Gringo

One of Kaine’s greatest strengths as a vice presidential candidate comes from his ability to reach people of faith, especially Latinos who are more likely to share his Catholic faith. Kaine is also a fluent Spanish-speaker, a skill he learned as a missionary in Honduras. His ability to give speeches and conduct interviews in Spanish is a huge asset for the Clinton Campaign, which has been accused of “hispandering.”

A first for a candidate on a major-party ticket, Tim Kaine delivered a full speech in Spanish over the weekend. https://t.co/XKjmLXkAXI

— NPR (@NPR) October 17, 2016

Clinton’s campaign has had a few missteps in her efforts as a white woman to target Latino voters (e.g. “7 Things Hillary Clinton has in common with your abuela”); however, her choice in a running mate has helped to bridge that gap and alleviate those mistakes. Tim Kaine makes clear that he believes this election has a lot to do with respect and that the Republican and Democratic presidential nominees “have very different opinions on the Latino community.” Although this is not overtly fear-inducing, it does create a sense of worry for Latinos should Donald Trump be elected. Thus, this rhetoric is meant to get Latino voters to the polls in support of Clinton.

In all, Sen. Kaine’s past experiences in Latin America, Catholic faith, and knowledge of the Spanish language, puts him in a better position to target and reach Latinos than Clinton herself. Latinos are clearly an important and growing demographic in the United States and the 2016 election presents immigration as one of the foremost issues to Latinos and their communities. Therefore, Kaine is one of Clinton’s most qualified and best suited surrogates to earn the support of Latino voters (besides Marc Anthony that is).

Photo by: The Clinton Campaign

Sunday morning on ABC’s “This Week,” Martha Raddatz spoke with Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Tim Kaine about the election’s most pressing issues including Donald Trump’s claims that the election is rigged in favor of Hillary Clinton. Kaine explained that he believes Trump is turning to conspiracy theories as scare tactics because he lost the first two presidential debates and fears losing the election. Ironically enough, Kaine chose to use a scare tactic to fight Trump’s claims.

The election is absolutely being rigged by the dishonest and distorted media pushing Crooked Hillary – but also at many polling places – SAD

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 16, 2016

Scare Tactics & Voter Turnout

Kaine said that Democrats are asking “GOP leaders to stand up for the integrity [and legitimacy] of the American electoral process” because questioning the validity of the nation’s elections is a threat to democracy. By employing this kind of rhetoric to describe Trump’s claims, Kaine is also engaging in the use of scare tactics. His claims that Trump’s statements are a threat to democracy is understandably frightening to American voters. Although there is truth to Kaine’s remarks given that the general election stage is meant to legitimize the political system, his rhetoric also contributes to the doomsday nature of elections. Though Kaine seeks to build confidence in democracy as his rhetorical objective, the Clinton campaign also depends on a higher voter turnout. Should voters be turned off by the mudslinging of this election or Trump’s claims that it’s rigged anyway, a lower voter turnout could favor Trump. Therefore, Kaine needed to reaffirm the importance and validity of this election despite Trump’s conspiracy theories whilst still propping up Clinton’s campaign message and serving as her surrogate. It will be interesting to see what the turnout numbers are come November 8 and how it plays into a Clinton or Trump victory.

Over the weekend, CNN’s Vaughn Hillyard reported that in response to the release of the tape containing “Donald Trump’s lewd comments about women” Gov. Mike Pence cancelled his appearance at a GOP event in Wisconsin and issued a statement regarding the video. Pence explained that he was offended by Trump’s remarks and that he “cannot defend them.” This response further shows the disparity between Mike Pence’s role as a vice presidential candidate and that of the typical vice presidential candidate. Pence expressed disdain of Trump’s comments even though one of the classical roles of a vice presidential candidate is to serve as an attack dog—almost exclusively going on the offensive but still playing defense when necessary to protect his or her running mate’s image. Pence first showed that this was not his strategy nor did he feel it was his duty in the Vice Presidential Debate. Instead of outright defending Trump, he chose to redirect the focus and skillfully avoid answering tough questions concerning his running mate.

Although Pence’s public response was to condemn Trump’s comments, his rhetoric regarding Trump just an hour after the release of the tape was quite the opposite. According to Hillyard, Pence appeared at a campaign rally on Friday and gave a speech in support of Trump. Pence touted Trump’s ability to lead and respect all Americans. He also hinted that the only barrier to Trump winning the presidency was how the media portrays him. Yet in light of this weekend’s October Surprise, Pence’s most damning statement was that “other than a whole lot of zeroes, Donald Trump and I have a lot in common.” This comparison sharply contrasts his later disapproval of Trump’s remarks and his effort to distance himself from Trump. In terms of vice presidential rhetoric, Pence’s political rally speech was what is expected of vice presidential candidates; however, Donald Trump’s off-the-rails behavior and comments have forced Mike Pence into a tough position of determining how much he can defend without risking his own political capital. Moving forward, Pence must employ rhetoric that is more typical of vice presidential candidates since he is one of Trump’s few remaining surrogates. He must support Trump even in the face of Trump’s actions and words should their campaign hope to take down the Clinton political machine.

Tuesday, October 4 will be the first time many voters will hear from Republican vice presidential candidate Mike Pence and his Democratic counterpart Tim Kaine. While both are seasoned politicians given Pence is the governor of Indiana and Kaine is a senator from Virginia, the two men have undoubtedly been overshadowed by their running mates in the 2016 election season. This election, probably more so than ever before, highlights the challenge of vice presidential debates—defending someone else’s record.

Tuesday’s Importance    

USA Today predicts that Tuesday’s debate will not challenge any debate viewership records or come close to Clinton and Trump’s historic record-breaking debate; however, “viewers who do tune in could be rewarded with a clearer sense of the differences between the two parties than could be gleaned from the Clinton-Trump debate.” This is an important consideration given the current political landscape of the U.S. and the fact that with only 36 days until the election many voters are still undecided.

Defending the Indefensible

Going on the defense will be inescapable for Pence and Kaine. Both stand beside arguably two of the most polarizing and controversial presidential candidates in the history of the United States. According to USA Today, Gov. Pence will likely be tasked with defending Trump’s refusal to release his tax returns, questionable business practices, and criticism concerning his interactions with a former Miss Universe regarding her weight. On the other hand, Sen. Kaine will likely have to find ways to explain Clinton’s “deplorables,” email scandal, and accusations of wrongdoings by the Clinton Foundation. While many of these issues have been covered a hundred times over by the media, discussed at rallies, press conferences, and even the previous debate, they still stand as important topics of conversation in the 2016 election. Therefore, the winning vice presidential debater must effectively defend and likely appeal to emotion when making the case for why undecided voters should trust his running mate.