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Mike Pence‘s new campaign website lists his political achievements in chronological order … with an intriguing four-year gap after being selected as Donald Trump‘s vice presidential candidate.
‘They were elected by the American people on November 8, 2016 and entered office on January 20, 2017,’ it reads.
‘In February 2021, Vice President Mike Pence joined the Heritage Foundation as a distinguished visiting fellow.’
For anyone wondering how Pence would deal with the fallout from Jan. 6, when Trump supporters marched on Congress, some shouting, ‘Hang Mike Pence,’ and the bitter recriminations foisted between former commander-in-chief and his once loyal deputy the answer was there in black and white.
Or rather in white space between paragraphs.
Mike Pence’s 2024 campaign website skates over his four years as vice president, jumping from January 20, 2017, to taking up a new post in February 2021
Donald Trump and Mike Pence in happier times. The former president and vice president (seen here in 2017) have traded barbs since leaving office in the wake of the Jan. 6 violence
And it illustrates the quandary facing Pence’s team. It will want to campaign on the Trump-Pence administration’s record of tax cuts and standing up to foreign powers, such as Iran.
And it has to win members of the Trump base if Pence is to win the nomination.
But then there is the awkward business of how the president turned on Pence for refusing to subvert the Constitution and help him stay in power.
Aides say they recognize the challenge and plan to address it directly.
‘I think it’s something you have to walk straight through,’ his adviser Marc Short told the Associated Press.
That he did in his launch in Iowa. He said the American people deserved to know why he was running against his former running mate.
‘As I’ve said many times, on that fateful day President Trump’s words were reckless,’ he said. ‘They endangered my family and everyone at the Capitol.
‘But the American people deserve to know that on that day, President Trump also demanded that I choose between him and the Constitution.
‘Now voters will be faced with the same choice.
‘I chose the Constitution and I always will.’
‘On that fateful day, President Trump’s words were reckless. They endangered my family,’ former VP Mike Pence told a crowd of supporters as he launched his presidential campaign and admonished former President Donald Trump for his actions on that day
Pence joins a crowded field dominated by Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis
Poll
Who will win the Republican nomination for president in 2024?
- Donald Trump 72 votes
- Ron DeSantis 59 votes
- Nikki Haley 2 votes
- Mike Pence 17 votes
- Tim Scott 4 votes
- Chris Christie 9 votes
But his messaging makes clear he wants his campaign to be about something other than his former boss.
So there was another gap in a three-minute campaign video published hours before officially announcing his run. The word ‘Trump’ was conspicuous by its absence, even if there was a not-so-subtle dig.
‘Different times call for different leadership,’ he said.
‘Today our party and our country need a leader that’ll appeal, as Lincoln said, to the better angels of our nature.’
Even before announcing his candidacy, Pence has secured his third-place spot in national polling.
According to a tracking by FiveThirtyEight, Pence has 5.4 percent support among the already crowded GOP primary field. His No. 3 spot, however, is a far 16 percent behind second place Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Trump is still securely in first with 53.7 percent.
Highlighting his background in the announcement video, Pence said he was ‘a son of the heartland, grandson of an Irish immigrant.’
Therefore, he said, ‘My family has lived the American Dream. I had the great honor to serve in Congress, as Governor, and as your Vice President, and I’ll always be proud of the progress we made together, for a stronger, more prosperous America.’
Former Vice President Mike Pence donned a leather vest and jeans as he joined a column of about 200 bikers in Des Moines, Iowa, on Saturday at a gathering of 2024 GOP hopefuls
He then took aim at Biden and the Democratic party, saying: ‘today, our country’s in a lot of trouble. President Joe Biden and the radical left have weakened America at home and abroad. The American Dream is being crushed under run-away inflation, wages are dropping, recession is looming.
Pence is staking his run on appealing to caucus-goes in Iowa, a more conservative electorate than the second early state of New Hampshire.
He rode a Harley Davidson in a rally of veterans in Des Moines on Saturday and was back in the state on Tuesday to launch his campaign.
Supporters think he has a path to the nomination, despite the early running by Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
While they plow a populist line, they think there is a constituency yearning for a return to Reagan-style conservatism, with small government and robust foreign policy.
