Major expectations game victory for Tim Kaine

[Lyin' Steve]

So nobody's noticed this but, as usual, the Clinton campaign has executed every technical phase of the campaign beautifully.  First it was their coup in the first debate where they managed to drive the narrative into "there's no way Clinton comes out of this with a victory" land, with Hillary then scoring an easy yet somehow unexpected victory.  Now it's Kaine's turn, and virtually everywhere I look there seems to be an expectation that Pence will be better than Kaine.  Not that Kaine will lose or get crushed necessarily, but the conventional wisdom is that Pence is better and will turn in a strong performance.  This when Pence is in the unenviable position of being in a losing campaign with a dead weight on top of the ticket with whom he disagrees, of having far less personality and charisma than Kaine, and carrying the baggage of having been America's most hated governor for a month or so in early 2015, while Kaine is affable, charismatic, quick on his toes, and has a strong platform and winning campaign, in addition to having executed nearly flawlessly thus far in his role as VP.  You can also bet that Kaine has been hard at work preparing for the last month for this debate with tremendous resources and a cadre of talented staff at his disposal, while Pence has had to deal with the distractions of his own campaign's turmoil and the various limitations imposed on him by its incompetence.

Tomorrow night, I fully expect Pence to appear sober and dry, to get befuddled and give entirely unconvincing answers at several points as Kaine corners him on the contradictions between him and Trump, and generally to fail to inspire, while Kaine comes off as smart, warm, and deftly capable of defending Hillary Clinton from Pence's smooth jabs.

You have to hand it to the Clinton campaign.  They sneak in their wins when you're not looking.

[Crumpets]

Reading the thread title made me think he must have done something incredibly idiotic.

[Beefalow and the Consumer]

Pence will hammer home right-wing talking points about Muslims, trade, emails, the Clinton foundation, and Benghazi, and the Trump campaign/surrogates/supporters will claim victory.

Kaine will defend and humanize Clinton and go after Trump's tax record, business practices, and charitable foundation, and the Clinton campaign/surrogates/supporters will claim victory.

Pence is on offense, team down 31-10 in the fourth quarter.  He has to throw the long ball and hope not to get intercepted.  Kaine is on defense and even if he gives up a touchdown, it probably won't matter.

[ursulahx]

Any kind of Kaine victory merely enhances the snowballing catastrophe that is the Trump campaign right now.

[Virginiá]

Pence is on offense, team down 31-10 in the fourth quarter.  He has to throw the long ball and hope not to get intercepted.  Kaine is on defense and even if he gives up a touchdown, it probably won't matter.

Why is Kaine on defense when it is the Trump ticket that has been absolutely devastated the past 8-9~ days?

Seems more like both will go after each other thoroughly, and Pence is the one defending over a week's worth of absolutely awful controversies on Trump's part.