Keller @ Large: What Trump's Apparent Selection Of Pence As VP Means
BOSTON (CBS) - Donald Trump says a lot of things, and as his appalling campaign track record for truthfulness suggests, you'd best keep ample supplies of salt at hand when evaluating his comments.
But his apparent selection of Indiana Gov. Mike Pence as his running mate teaches us that sometimes, Trump says exactly what he means.
Early on, Trump said he wanted to round out the ticket with a Washington insider who knew the players and how the place works. Pence fits the bill.
After finishing second to Rep. John Boehner in the 2006 race for House minority leader, Pence served two years as head of the Republican Conference, the third-ranking position within the House GOP leadership. He served on a number of key House committees, including Foreign Affairs and Judiciary, and was a member of the Tea Party Caucus.
Trump has insisted he wants to unite the party behind him, and despite occasional forays into intra-party warfare, his VP choice should help solidify Trump's support among evangelicals, Tea Partiers and Pence's fellow GOP governors.
For the many conservative voters who backed others during the primaries out of concern over Trump's liberal leanings on issues like abortion and gay rights, Pence will provide some measure of reassurance. In Congress, Pence was a staunch opponent of same-sex marriage and civil unions, claimed homosexuals should not be allowed to serve in the military, and compared the passage of Obamacare to the 9/11 terror attacks.
As governor, he took intense heat for backing a "Religious Freedom Restoration Act" (RFRA) that critics – including many Republican business interests – claimed went too far in preserving discrimination against LGBT citizens.
And stylistically, the low-key Pence seems a good fit with Trump. There will almost certainly be just one member of this ticket grabbing headlines.
Pence is unlikely to help Trump shore up his sagging ratings among women and social moderates, the same groups who've fueled a sharp post-RFRA drop in Pence's Indiana approval ratings.
But keep one thing in mind as you absorb the fuss over this pick and Hillary Clinton's to come – academic studies have shown that the vice-presidential nominee never accounts for more than a one-percent difference in the election outcome.
