V21, 45 Thursday, July 21, 2016 Pence cruises into Republican love a “grand slam home Indiana governor delivers run” on the heels of a classic acceptance speech U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz’s epic “vote your con- By BRIAN A. HOWEY science” speech that BRATENAHL, Ohio – On a glistening found him hounded by summer morning by the shores of Lake Erie, catcalls and boos as he the bleary eyed Indiana Republican National exited the big stage. Convention delegation Pence had en- found themselves in the dorsed Cruz just prior company of their vice to the Indiana primary, presidential nominee. but quickly shifted his It came just hours allegiance to Donald after Indiana Gov. Mike Trump, and like an Pence cruised his way Gov. Mike Pence accepts his vice presidential nomina- Indy 500 driver steer- through the fratricidal carnage at the conven- tion Wednesday night in Cleveland, moving the room . tion, delivering what U.S. Sen. Dan Coats called (HPI Photos by Randy Gentry) Continued on page Pence’s twilight zone By BRIAN A. HOWEY CLEVELAND – Perhaps the most surreal year in Hoosier politics came to a head on the shores of Lake Erie when Mike Pence brought his career into a Trumpian twilight zone. Plucked by the mercu- “I had to speak the truth. It’s rial billionaire Donald Trump from a gubernatorial reelection going to be an interesting couple campaign in which even his of days. The chips will fall where most fervent stalwarts weren’t convinced he would win, Gov. they may.” Pence did what he is apt to do, which is to double down. - U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, after In Trump, he found a political refusing to endorse Donald figure whom he compared to his political hero, Ronald Reagan. Trump during his RNC “To be around our nominee, as I speech Wednesday night had the privilege to be, not only Page 2 the campaign trail, but out among his war hero. He is a war hero because associates, people that he’s employed he was captured. I like people who for years, and among his family, I weren’t captured.” have a sense of this man,” Pence In fact, during his 1966 Cali- would say from Westfield to Cleve- fornia gubernatorial campaign, it was land. “I have a sense of his heart. I Ronald Reagan who coined the Re- have a sense of his hands-on style of publican “11th Commandment” which leadership, and for all the world, he goes, “Thou shalt not speak ill of any reminds me of Ronald Reagan.” fellow Republican.” It took Donald Howey Politics Indiana Pence is in lonely company Trump a half a century to render this WWHowey Media, LLC 405 when it comes to equating the billion- quaint value moot. aire to President Reagan. When Pence first rational- Massachusetts Ave., Suite This is where Rod Serling ized his Trump life line at a rally in 300 Indianapolis, IN 46204 emerges behind the misty Cuyahoga Westfield, Trump emerged on stage www.howeypolitics.com silhouette that Trump presented on with the familiar smirk crossing his Monday night when he introduced his face, and said, “How’s your governor Brian A. Howey, Publisher wife Melania. doing?. I don’t know if he’ll be your “Is Donald Trump the incarna- governor or your vice president. Who Mark Schoeff Jr., Washington tion of Reagan?” the hell knows?” Jack E. Howey, Editor Serling might begin. Sometime in Mary Lou Howey, Editor “This is a portrait of the next 24 hours, Maureen Hayden, Statehouse an exposed gov- Trump arrived at “vice Mark Curry, photography ernor named Mike president Pence,” but Pence, who feeds neither the Trump nor Randy Gentry, photograph off his self delusion, Pence campaign would who finds himself confirm it was true. Subscriptions perpetually hungry Pence would board HPI, HPI Daily Wire $599 for greatness in his a flight to Teterboro, diet. He searches Rod Serling of “The Twilight Zone” only to hear Trump say HPI Weekly, $350 for something which on Fox News that he Ray Volpe, Account Manager explains his hunger and why the world hadn’t come to a “final, final decision.” 317.602.3620 passes him by without saluting. It is I mean, who in the hell really knows? email: [email protected] something he looks for and finds at A press conference was postponed a national convention, in his twisted due to the Nice, France, terror attack, Contact HPI and distorted lexicon he calls it faith, though Trump spent that evening [email protected] strength and truth. But in just a mo- raising money. Multiple news reports Howey’s cell: 317.506.0883 ment Mike Pence will ply his trade on painted Trump as “stewing” that he Washington: 202.256.5822 another kind of corner, at the strange had boxed himself into Pence after In- Business Office: 317.602.3620 intersection we call the twilight zone.” diana leaks. He didn’t come to terms Trump the new Reagan? with this default decision until after We never heard Ronald midnight, with Serling rumored to be © 2016, Howey Politics Reagan dispatch a primary rival by hovering on the balcony. Indiana. All rights reserved. insinuating the man’s father was The Pence staff panicked, Photocopying, Internet forward- implicated in the assassination of an according to CNN, while the governor ing, faxing or reproducing in American president, the very president remained serene, believing that Trump who was an early Pence hero. Reagan would never go back on his word, any form, whole or part, is a never used the F-bomb. Reagan never after a year of campaigning that fea- violation of federal law without said he could win an election even tured Trump devolving and backtrack- permission from the publisher. if he shot a man on Fifth Avenue. ing on everything from self-financing Reagan never made fun of disabled his campaign to whether Japan and people. Reagan never talked about South Korea should have nukes, to a female anchor having a menstrual going from “very pro-choice” on abor- cycle, or bragged about his penis tion to prosecuting women for going size (this was jumbo LBJ territory). through the procedure. On torture, Reagan would never belittle a former Trump said that torture works” and POW like the hero Sen. John McCain, that he would “bring back waterboard- about whom Trump said, “He’s not a ing, and I’d bring back a hell of a lot Page 3 worse than waterboarding.” He said about himself than Pence. When the In- that the CIA and military will “do as diana governor spoke, Trump exited the I tell them,” only to say a day later, stage. A day later on the CBS show “60 “I will not order a military officer to Minutes,” Trump said he didn’t expect disobey the law. It is clear that as Pence to turn into a negative campaign- president I will be bound by laws er. “We’re different people. I understand just like all Americans and I will that,” Trump said. “I don’t think he meet those responsibilities.” should do it because it’s different for Reagan was disciplined and him. He’s not that kind of a person.” committed to a range of conserva- Pence quickly signaled his will- tive ideals and principles. ingness to shift on the issues. Asked It wasn’t until 11 a.m. A young Mike Pence meets President Reagan in if he agreed with Trump’s call for “a Friday that Trump would tweet 1983. temporary ban on Muslims entering the that Pence was his man. On Satur- United States,” a stance Pence had said day, Trump introduced Pence at the very same mid-town in December was “offensive” and “unconstitutional,” Pence Manhattan hotel where Reagan would kick off his 1980 responded: “I do.” revolutionary campaign. “One of the big reasons I chose In the “60 Minutes” interview, the optics Mike, and it’s because of party unity,” Trump said. “I’m showed Bambi seated with a wolf. an outsider. I won in a landslide as a party outsider. This The Indiana RNC delegation, once decidedly anti- wasn’t close. I’m a messenger. We got almost 14 million Trump, has come around to the Trump/Pence ticket. Most votes. That’s more than anyone in Republican Party his- have signed on for the favorite son. But make no mistake, tory. More than Ronald Reagan, President Nixon, President how this all ends, whether it is on Nov. 9 if the ticket loses, Eisenhower, and he won a war. One of the big reasons I or into what will almost certainly be a controversial presi- chose Mike was because of Indiana. We won Indiana big.” dency if he wins, is a mystery wrapped in an enigma. The media would note that Trump talked more Mike Pence has entered the twilight zone. v are deceiving. I have to tell ya, when I looked out from Pence acceptance, from page 1 that stage, and looked out at all of you, it was an incred- ing his way through wreckage, he offered up the clearest ible source of encouragement. Whatever we have been rationale for a “President Trump. So moved was the nomi- able to do in public service over these past 16 years, all nee that Trump appeared on stage after Pence concluded is owed to the Republican Party of the State of Indiana. and came close to kissing him on the cheek. We’re just so grateful to all of you, we could go all around “Donald Trump gets it,” Pence said in his half hour the room and thank people at literally every table.