The vice presidential debate was an easy win for Mike Pence over Tim Kaine as the Republican and Democratic running mates took center stage during Tuesday night's nationally televised debate, according to CNN and other news sites.
Pence, the vice presidential running mate of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, proved unflappable against a barrage of charges and interruptions from Kaine, the Democrat running with Hillary Clinton. Pence's demeanor helped him capture the night, according to a CNN/ORC poll of debate viewers.
CNN reported that 48 percent of the viewers in the poll thought Pence won the debate compared to 42 percent for Kaine.
"(Kaine's) interruptions – one after another after another – were so distracting that it often detracted from the substance of the debate and made policy conversations hard to follow," CNN's Eric Bradner wrote.
"The Virginia senator was trying to mimic Vice President Joe Biden's style against Paul Ryan in 2012 – but Kaine can't pull off lines like 'malarkey.' And Pence, who honed his skills reacting calmly to angry callers on his radio show, knew exactly how to deal with it," Bradner continued.
CNN senior producer Edward Mejia Davis tweeted that Pence looked "calm and reassuring" during the debate.
"It seems clear to me that this was a huge win for Trump-Pence," added Andrew Sullivan, of New York Magazine. "… But what Trump needs desperately is someone to assure the nervous middle that there will be a grown-up in the Oval Office next to the tantrum-throwing toddler. It was very effective, I'd say, on that count, especially with Republican voters who were looking for reassurance."
David Rennie, Washington bureau chief of The Economist, suggested in a Twitter post that Pence's performance improved his stock and possibly that of the Republican Party.
The BBC News's Anthony Zurcher also gave the debate to Pence, saying that Kaine's efforts to get under the Indiana governor's skin failed.
"He didn't get rattled, and he didn't make any unforced errors that would dominate the headlines tomorrow," Zurcher said for the BBC News. "Mr. Pence was added to the ticket to serve as an emotional counterbalance to Mr. Trump's fiery, blunderbuss style – and Tuesday night showed why that was probably a good idea."
Pence generated the largest share of conversations on Facebook — 54 percent to Kaine's 46 percent — but the site does not differentiate positive and negative, USA Today reported.
The top two moments discussed on Facebook were the Pence and Kaine exchange on the "insult-driven" campaign and Kaine's comment: "He is asking everybody to vote for somebody that he cannot defend" USA Today reported.
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