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Friday, March 29, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

After VP Pick Misfire, Trump-Pence Gets Official

MANHATTAN (CN) — Donald Trump officially tapped ultraconservative Indiana Gov. Mike Pence to be his running mate in the presidential race Saturday, after delaying his announcement only to deflate momentum on Twitter.

Before his governorship in the Hoosier State, Pence served as a U.S. congressman from 2001 to 2013 and was chair of the Republican House from 2009 to 2011.

A Tea Party supporter, Pence is known to be tough on immigration laws, an opponent of abortion and against marriage equality. He also has called global warming a "myth." Though there is some overlap to Trump's platform, he also undercuts the presumptive Republican nominee's positions in key ways. While Trump has called to repeal the federal health care law, Pence has touted a piece of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that expands Medicaid. Pence also voted for the international trade agreement, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which Trump opposes.

Pence has been governor since 2012 and faced a deadline to withdraw his re-election bid, something pundits speculated had put pressure on Trump to name his prospective vice president quickly.

Trump was initially slated to announce his running mate on Friday but announced he had canceled that event ostensibly because of a deadly attack in Nice, France, the night before. He made the announcement on Twitter instead.

The real estate mogul made sure to take a dig at his presumed Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton in a statement after his rescheduled event Saturday.

"He will prove to be a tough and unyielding spokesman for the Trump ticket," Trump said. "Pence is a fighter. He will happily go after Hillary's awful record."

On his website, The Donald trumpeted, "Trump-Pence is a winner for the GOP."

Pence told a crush of reporters he was "humbled" to have been chosen, and that Trump "is going to be a great president."

"I think I can tell you this is no ordinary time for this nation," the silver-haired 50h governor said, as seen in one such video posted on CNN's website. "I'm very confident that Republicans are going to come together."

He added that Americans are "frustrated with the erosion of American strength at home and abroad."

Clinton fired off at least two emails to the media over the weekend about Trump's pick.

She first released a web video called "Indecisive Donald," which she says is "raising the question of how Donald Trump will run the country if this is how he makes a decision selecting a vice president."

Clinton's spokeswoman Christina Reynolds also issued a statement.

"We were prepared to respond with the many ways in which Mike Pence is the most extreme pick in a generation — a doubling down of Trump's divisive rhetoric and policies," she wrote.

The campaign took aim at what they call Trump's "waffling" over whom to pick, saying he "spent more time today making false attacks on Hillary Clinton ... and talking about his own businesses than his own running mate."

"It turns out, you can force Trump to make a choice and give him a speech but he's always going to be Trump."

Clinton has not yet formally announced her expected running mate.

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