Donald Trump presents partner Mike Pence, but there’s no doubt who is star
Donald Trump presented running mate Mike Pence to the nation on Saturday, hailing the Indiana governor as his “first choice” and “my partner in the campaign.” But he left no doubt in a sometimes awkward event that Mr Pence’s role will surely be as sidekick to the businessman-turned-reality-star-turned-politician at the top of the ticket.
Glancing at notes, Mr Trump lauded Mr Pence’s personal character and conservative credentials. Then he moved on to draw sharp contrasts between the newly-formed Republican team and Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Yet the announcement lacked much of the stagecraft typically associated with the public unveiling of a running mate, one of the most significant moments under a presidential campaign’s control.
The only sign onstage in the Manhattan hotel ballroom bore only Mr Trump’s name. The two men appeared together just briefly. And Mr Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, spoke for nearly 30 minutes before calling Mr Pence to the stage.
His far-ranging remarks devoted more time to recapping his primary victories — and he even found time to tout his new hotel in Washington — than introducing the relatively unknown Mr Pence to America’s voters.
“All right, back to Mike Pence,” Mr Trump said at one point after a long tangent talking about the Republican Party’s efforts to overturn rules that limit church leaders’ political involvement.
Meanwhile, Ms Clinton’s campaign is launching a major voter mobilisation drive during the Republican National Convention, setting a national goal of getting more than 3 million people to register and commit to vote in the 2016 election.
Ms Clinton intends to ann-ounce the plan on Monday in a speech in Cincinnati, followed by a stop at an Ohio voter registration ev-ent with volunteers, campa-ign officials said on Sunday. She is kicking off the voter drive as Republicans meet in Cleveland to nominate businessman Mr Trump at their national convention. The mobilization effort aims to capture the energy of Democrats watching the GOP convention each evening and harness it into a stronger voter base. President Barack Obama often told his campaign audiences, “Don’t boo — vote,” and Clinton’s team wants their faithful not to fume, but to fight back.
“People will be watching Cleveland and Donald Trump the next few days and will be wondering, ‘What can I do What can I do to stop this ’” said David Pepper, the chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party. “And the best thing they can do is to register voters.”
During the week, Clinton’s campaign and state Democratic coordinated campaigns will hold more than 500 registration or “commit to vote” events across the nation. For example, voter registration events will be held at the Islamic Center of Akron’s Eid celebration in Ohio; a bilingual day camp in Hazelton, Pennsylvania; Detroit’s Eastern Market; and a campaign office opening in Madison, Wisconsin.
To reach the goal of 3 million new voters, the campaign said it had created a one-stop-shopping online voter registration tool in English and Spanish that can be widely shared online.
Clinton’s voter registration and mobilization project will aim to build upon the turnout machine built by Obama’s two winning campaigns. And it also underscores how important it will be for Clinton to activate Obama’s coalition of black, Latino, female and young voters to turn out in large numbers amid a negative election environment against Trump.
