24 hours have passed since Pence and Kaine “battled” it out in front of nearly 37.2 million Americans–the smallest VP debate audience since 2000– and now we, as Americans, can sit back and reflect on who was more rhetorically successful in reaching both the target audience and a much larger secondary audience. As someone who watched this debate and the first Presidential debate, it was near comical as to how opposite the Vice Presidential candidates appeared to their Presidential counterparts. As I watched the first debate, the arrogance Trump displayed could be summed up by interruptions, eye rolls, and uninterested facial expressions. Ironically, these would all be words I would use to sum up the way Kaine carried himself in the first VP debate. Kaine spent the entire debate attacking Pence on Trump’s sayings and insults of the past and focused little on tackling the issues or questions at hand. CNN writer Eric Bradner described the debate best when he wrote, “Mike Pence put a calmer, gentler face on the 2016 Republican ticket. And Kaine’s pestering style helped him do it.” While Kaine’s rhetorical approach may have been the least appealing of the two, Pence had flaws in the substance of his answers that conflicted with the Republican Presidential nominee that may reappear down the road. The Vice Presidential nominee took noticeably different stances on Russia and Syria than Trump has taken over the last few months and he recanted personal statements made about Putin in earlier debates and discussions. By breaking down the debate line-by-line, major flaws arise from some of the positions Pence took in relation to those taken by his running mate but, as noted by CNN, voters make their judgments on winners and losers of the debate based on the candidate’s tone and overall performance so Pence and the Republican party likely lost little ground by these differences between President and Vice President.
Overall, there was no clear winner or loser in the debate between the two Vice Presidential candidates. Both candidates emerged from the debate with minor rhetorical victories but there were also concerns, both with style and with substance, that need to be addressed before the second Vice Presidential debate if Independent and discouraged voters from both parties hope to have any more clarity when it comes time to vote in November.
Depending on how you analyze the rhetoric of the debate, it is hard to say if there was a clear winner for certain. The morning of the debate, I took it upon myself to learn more about each candidate so that I would be able to more clearly understand some of their view points and expressions throughout the debate. Not knowing who either candidate was prior to their vice presidential nomination, I was able to listen to the debate fully without much bias. I agree with your point that Kaine came off as attacking and insulting. He demonstrated an air of arrogance from the beginning that gave him a negative perception in my mind. Although Pence was truly not able to defend several comments that Kaine stated (when he probably interrupted), I do think he handled the debate in a more charismatic and presidential manner. If I had to choose a winner based off of style and character, I would definitely choose Pence. I felt that he was more genuine throughout as Kaine seemed to just be rattling off already composed lines and comments, resulting in him seeming less genuine and more like a politician viewed in a negative sense at times.
I agree that there was no clear winner to this debate, because that’s everyone’s individual opinion. Both Vice Presidential candidates didn’t do anything too out of the ordinary for a political debate, a little talking over each other and always fending their political ideas. Neither one of them deviated too far from the norm so neither of the candidates became the clear winner or loser of the debate. I also agree that the Presidential Candidate has chosen a complimentary counterpart as a Vice President. When the President strategically chooses a complimentary Vice President, the audience, during the debate, takes everything the potential Vice Presidents says and thinks about how they would interact with the potential President. Everything that the Vice Presidential candidate says is analyzed and compared to the President. Because the audience doesn’t consider this debate as important as the Presidential debate, it’s harder for the speakers to gain tons of public attention. So as we expect there was no big attention grabber or clear winner.