Straight shooter and true patriot former Vice President Mike Pence will be filing presidential campaign paperwork on Wednesday.
Said Pence in Iowa this past weekend, “Should we enter the race later this week I’m very confident that we’ll have the support to be able to carry our message, tell our story, which is not just my years as vice president but also years as governor of a conservative state leading a conservative agenda, record employment, as also being a conservative leader in the Congress of the United States, fighting against the big spenders in my own party.”
He commented that “we’ll have the resources to tell our story and my hope is, should we enter the race, that by the time people are making decision, we won’t just be well known, we’ll be known well. They’ll know who the Pences are. They’ll know what our values are, our sense of calling, and I’m confident we can do that.”
But as all know the Trump populists hate the man and they have effective veto power over the nominee. How Pence could overcome that is anyone’s guess. However, he’s making an effort in a roundabout way.
“People around the country want us to see us restore a threshold of civility in our political debate,” Pence said. “You can disagree without being disagreeable. People that know me know I take very strong stands. I’m conservative, but I’m not in a bad mood about it.”
Some pundits understand the Trump issue, but think Pence has a chance in Iowa. That could lead to bigger things. “There are some unique challenges to being Mike Pence having to do with Jan. 6…He’s got a very familiar message to most Iowa Republicans. It’s a message that would sell pretty well. On paper he fits very well with the kind of candidate who has won Iowa in the past,” opined veteran Republican consultant Dave Kochel.
That may very well be true. But with Trump commanding a solid hold on a plurality of Republican primary voters the chances for anybody, including Pence, to break through is currently problematic.
Now granted, Trump will no doubt have further legal difficulties timed by Dems to hurt his campaign. His people are quietly talking about skipping the debate season. That would make him look like a coward, but probably be smart in the strategic sense. Why? Because the hold he has on his devotees has nothing to do with debates either way. It’s much deeper and fiercer than that.
So Pence, decent man and solid conservative that he is, will have a seriously uphill fight to get even in the ballpark of a viable opportunity for the nomination. Such is the price of constitutional principles. Such is the price of honor.