Margaret Carlson, Columnist

Pence's Parallel Campaign

The Republican vice-presidential nominee tries to avoid having to explain his running mate's ever-changing message.

August 30, 2016 at 8:50 PM UTC

Margaret Carlson was a White House correspondent for Time, a weekly panelist on CNN’s “Capital Gang” and an editor at the New Republic.

A rare joint appearance.
Photographer: Ty Wright/Bloomberg

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On a recent Saturday afternoon in the dog days of August, Indiana Governor Mike Pence came to Patrick Henry College in Purcellville, Virginia, a state the Republican presidential ticket has almost no chance of winning.

The vice-presidential nominee went through the standard conservative applause lines -- gun rights, law and order, and judges who will protect the right to life. He then ticked off the bill of particulars against Hillary Clinton -- Benghazi, the Clinton Foundation, asking “hardworking Americans” to pay for big government programs. Pence is blessedly bland -- what you get after pressing “1” for English. He happily intones his usual line, “We do well to remember a simple truth, one that I was raised on, and that is that there will always be more in America that unites us than will ever divide us."