Fierce battle between two 'deputies'

(Baonghean) - After the debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump last week, on October 5, it was the turn of the two vice presidential candidates, Tim Kaine and Mike Pence, to take the stage. The two opponents entered the debate with a rather heavy task: if Mike Pence had to find a way to restore Donald Trump's reputation after the previous unsuccessful debate, then Tim Kaine also had to try to maintain Hillary Clinton's "upper hand". But according to some initial comments after the debate, Mike Pence performed his task better than his opponent.

The noisy debate

Like the debate between Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Trump, the debate between the two Vice Presidential candidates also lasted continuously for 90 minutes with the moderator Elaine Quijano of CBS News. As predicted by analysts, the two “opponents” did not focus much on the policies of the two parties, instead they “concentrated all their energy” on attacking the leader of the opponent.

A friendly greeting… Photo: Reuters

Before the debate began, the moderator reminded the Longwood University audience not to cheer or clap. But the reminder was unnecessary, as the performances of the two “lead actors” were already noisy enough.

As soon as they took their seats, both Mike Pence and Tim Kaine launched attacks on Clinton and Trump. Kaine was the first to attack, calling the Republican presidential candidate a “danger to American security,” “a misogynist and immigrant who pays very little in taxes.”

… followed by successive attacks. Photo: Reuters

Mr. Kaine especially emphasized the fact that billionaire Donald Trump did not make public his personal tax records - something different from other presidential candidates in history, and did not forget to mention how Mr. Trump expressed his "admiration" for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Pence immediately responded by accusing Mrs. Clinton of foreign policy mistakes that have caused problems in the Middle East to spiral out of control. Defending Mr. Trump on the tax issue, Mr. Pence sought to “point the finger” at the fact that Hillary Clinton’s family charity received donations from foreign governments when she was Secretary of State.

All of Mr. Pence's arguments were aimed at portraying Mrs. Clinton as an untrustworthy person who had made many mistakes for the Obama administration during the 2009-2013 term.

The two “runners” of Mr. Trump and Mrs. Hillary “battled” so fiercely that they constantly interrupted each other, ignoring the host sitting across from them. Every time Mr. Pence launched an attack on Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Kaine immediately interrupted his opponent. And of course, Mr. Pence did the same, although to a lesser extent.

Statistics show that Mr. Kaine interrupted the Republican vice presidential candidate 39 times, while Mr. Pence interrupted his opponent 19 times. The two candidates interrupted each other so much that the moderator of the debate was forced to intervene: "People will not be able to understand what you are saying if you keep interrupting each other like that"!

Trump's "deputy" has the upper hand

With both candidates “focusing” on attacking and interrupting each other, the debate failed to answer many of the questions that voters expected. However, overall assessment of the debate, many opinions said that Republican Vice Presidential candidate Mike Pence had a better performance, although his task was considered more difficult than Mr. Tim Kaine.

With composure, Mr. Mike Pence prevailed at the end of the match. Photo: Reuters

Although Mr. Pence was previously considered to have a style quite similar to Mr. Donald Trump in using strong language and direct attacks, in the fight with Mr. Tim Kaine, he showed a calm, composed and focused demeanor throughout the debate. Meanwhile, Mr. Kaine was judged to be a bit hasty and serious about the issue, although this may have been the tactic of "keeping the offensive against the opponent" that Mr. Kaine intended to apply.

Therefore, Mr. Mike Pence’s performance is considered to have “saved points” for Mr. Donald Trump’s election campaign after Mr. Trump was overwhelmed by Mrs. Hillary in the debate earlier last week. In fact, this is also true of Mr. Pence’s “function” since running with Mr. Trump, when most of Mr. Pence’s job was to “clean up” the consequences of Mr. Trump’s statements.

Although the debate between the two Vice Presidential candidates was more heated than expected, at the most intense stage in the final race to the White House, analysts said it was unlikely to affect the outcome of the "final match" that will take place on November 8.

According to an ABC News poll conducted ahead of the debate, only 10% of voters said the performances of Tim Kaine and Mike Pence would influence their vote.

This is understandable because what voters really need is what the country’s domestic and foreign policies will bring them, not a more detailed portrait of the two presidential candidates. Therefore, the task of convincing voters who are still undecided between Mrs. Hillary Clinton and Mr. Donald Trump is back to themselves, with two more opportunities to demonstrate on October 9./.

Thuy Ngoc