The candidates both have track records on job creation policy, and may stray from talking points.
On Tuesday, Tim Kaine and Mike Pence are gonna wrassle on television. It’s the vice-presidential debate, and it’s gonna be riveting stuff.
Yes, debates between the second fiddles aren’t exactly Must See TV. They’re at their most informative when these backup quarterbacks show that they are capable of effectively running the offense, so to speak. We need to be able to imagine these guys in the Oval Office, calling the shots.
That said: While the VP picks are usually of like minds with their top-of-the-ticket running mates – and they can usually be expected to parrot their talking points – it’ still worth looking at both of their individual records.
So where they stand on issues like trade, infrastructure investment, and workforce training?
Tale of the Tape
Gov. Mike Pence (R-IN)
Age: 57
Height: 6’0
Has a dog named Maverick and two cats named Pickle and Oreo.
Here are @timkaine and @mike_pence senior HS pics pic.twitter.com/xu4qfkBZNE
— Dave Jorgenson (@davejorgenson) July 28, 2016
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA)
Age: 58
Height: 5’10
While he was born in Minnesota, he was raised in Kansas City.
Kaine on infrastructure:
From Politico:
Kaine does have a locally rich history on transportation policy issues that transcend nationally — namely on how to pay for roads and bridges …. He flip-flopped around supporting a gas tax hike to cover those needs while serving as his state’s governor from 2006 to 2010. His main beef with a gas tax increase was that the legislature could siphon it off to cover other expenses, and he wanted to be sure that wouldn’t happen under his watch.
Pence on infrastructure:
As governor of Indiana, Pence pushed a plan to spend $1 billion on infrastructure projects over a four-year span. The plan came, however, after some serious traffic snarls on Hoosier highays required emergency repairs. At least he learned on the fly!
Kaine on trade:
Hillary Clinton famously promoted the heck out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) … before walking her comments back while on the trail. She’s now skeptical of the TPP.
And now, so is Kaine. He’s generally considered to be an advocate for increased trade. He voted for fast-track authority as a Senator from Virginia in 2015, and praised the TPP – or parts of it, at least – in the week running up to his announcement as Hillary’s veep pick. He only walked back his TPP support after he joined Clinton.
Pence on trade:
As a member of the US House of Representatives, Mike Pence was a surefire vote for trade. As CNN put it:
He backed every free trade deal up for a vote in his 12 years in Congress. Pence voted for the Central American Free Trade Agreement, as well as trade pacts with South Korea, Colombia, Panama, Peru, Singapore and more.
He also supported fast track, and publicly backed the TPP, well before he became the GOP VP nominee.
Kaine on workforce training:
The former Virginia governor has the full-throated endorsement of the president of the Virginia AFL-CIO, and his father was a union ironworker. Kaine introduced legislation in the US Senate so that Pell Grants could be used to pay for workforce training programs, as well as legislation meant to improve the quality of career and technical education (CTE) training programs at community colleges in Virginia. Look like he’s paid attention to this issue, at least.
Pence on workforce training:
Unions aren't typically big fans of Mike Pence, but … after he made his first gubernatorial campaign all about the economy and job creation, Pence pursued retraining programs when got into office, taking significant cash from the federal government to aid in CTE efforts.
He also instructed the state government to ID problem spots in the Hoosier workforce, and pushed CTE again when he was running for re-election (until he dropped that bid to be Trump's veep pick).
Enough talk. Time for debatin'!
Catch the vice presidential debate on Tuesday at 9 pm ET. Details here.